With Eyes Like the Ocean
by ForeverDarkly
Summary: Kasey Winters gave up being normal when she stepped aboard Von Doom's space shuttle and returned to Earth with the ability to manipulate water. Now, with a promise of being maid of honor and the threat of the Silver Surfer, normal is looking pretty good.
1. Prologue

**Hey guys, this is my first Fantastic Four story, so be gentle. A quick warning, there are spoilers for _Rise of the Silver Surfer_ in here, especially in the second chapter...just a heads up. No, I haven't seen the movie yet, my brother as a joke bought me the book that goes along with film for my birthday and I just finished reading it. So if you're asking how I know what happens, no I didn't see an advanced screening or bought a boot leg copy, I just buried my face in a book for two days. I haven't seen the movie yet and I won't be seeing it until Saturday afternoon when I get out of work. Outside of that, I only own Kasey Winters/Typhoon, everything else belongs to Marvel. This chapter, the prologue, I wrote because I really didn't want to go back and throw my character into the first movie and have to wait to get to the second, so throughout the story I've written a couple flashbacks that I'll pop in at the appropriate times and go back into the first movie. I hope you guys like this and feel free to let me know what you think. **

**----**

**Prologue- What Dreams are Made of**

Her mother used to tell her that dreams were the mind's way of escaping the day to day chaos of life, to show people their inner most desires like an afternoon screening at a movie theater and that they were made up of Tinkerbell like pixie dust.

For the past year and a half, all Kasey Winters had dreamed of were the days before she agreed to go with Reed Richards and Ben Grimm to ask Victor Von Doom for financial backing for their science project. The days when she was still an astronomy teacher at Brown and still just a close friend and colleague to Reed, Ben and Sue Storm. Back to the days before Victor's space shuttle and the flight and of course the cosmic storm cloud had hit them. Back to the days before she woke up ice cold, dripping wet and had the ability to control water, water not only around her but from within her now chilled core. She dreamed of the days prior to that afternoon on the bridge when the media dubbed her, Reed, Ben, Sue and Johnny the Fantastic Five. Before Johnny christened her Typhoon on national television. Back to the days before people started calling her a super hero and before she helped save the city from Victor. But her favorites were the dreams of the days back when everything was still normal in her life.

Her mother was wrong; Kasey's dreams weren't made up of pixie dust, instead they were made up of rushing water, flakes of snow and dangerous pieces of hail.

Blinking away sleep and her chilly dreams, Kasey swung her legs out of bed, grabbed her black hooded sweat shirt and gently padded into her adjoining bathroom. As she walked past, her finger tips grazed the black garment bag she had hanging up on her closet door. Inside the bag was her bridesmaid's dress; Susan Storm had asked her to be her maid of honor at her wedding and today was the fifth time her and Reed would try to get married. Hopefully the fifth time was the charm; hopefully nothing would go wrong this time.


	2. A Fantastic Wedding

**Chapter One-A Fantastic Weddin****g**

Kasey Winters eyed her reflection in the floor length mirror and smiled; she cleaned up pretty good. Her recently dyed chocolate brown hair was up in a simple twist with blue flowers on bobby pins that were holding small twirling curls in place and kept the stray pieces off of her face. A light coat of gold shimmering eye shadow went over her dark cobalt blue eyes, a slight glimmer of lip gloss had been painted onto her lips and hanging from her neck, resting just above the scooped out neckline of her dressed rested the silver rain drop charm that hung from a matching silver chain. But her dress, her dress was her favorite part of the reflection. It was a deep navy blue and the material felt like running water slipping through her long fingers. The dress itself ended just a little below the knee and along the bottom hem line was a row of pale silver swirls skimming across it.

"You look great." Turning at the sound of the familiar voice, Kasey's eyes landed on the man in the doorway and felt a smile tug on her lips. Leaning casually against the wooden frame, Johnny Storm crossed his arms over his chest and for the briefest of seconds; Kasey let his eyes rake over her. "I mean, really great."

"Thanks Johnny." She said with a smirk. The two youngest members of the Fantastic Five just stood there, staring at each other for a moment before Johnny cleared his throat.

"You look great in your uniform, ya know, all tight and hugging in the right places, but the dress...you look really good."

"You were doing good before you opened your mouth the second time. And besides, bridesmaids aren't supposed to look better than the bride."

"Yeah...well...whatever. Speaking of the bride, Sue wants to see you."

"So that's why you're here, huh? Not because you wanted to see how stunning I look?" Kasey asked with a sly grin on her face and batted her mascara covered lashes at him, as she pushed past the Human Torch. Normally, she knew if her skin even barely grazed his there would be a slight plume of white stream floating up around them, but thanks to Johnny's suit jacket sleeves, nothing happened this time. Walking down the hall in their large living space on the top floor of the Baxter Building, Kasey came to Sue's bedroom door and knocked twice, her knuckles rapping against the wood.

When the door did open, Kasey gasped. With her skirts bunched up within her fists, Sue stood there looking like the picture perfect version of a soon to be bride. The long folds of pristine white silk fell in soft waves, her golden hair was swept up away from her face, much like her own, and her blue eyes shown brightly.

"Wow Susie…you look…wow."

"That's what Ben and Johnny said." The soon to be Invisible Mrs. Fantastic told her.

"So, what do you need me for?"

"I need you to tell me everything is running smooth so I can stop freaking out." She said, slightly out of her breath, as she ushered Kasey inside. Sitting on one of the plush chairs in the room was Alicia, wearing the same dress as Kasey, and a warm smile on her face.

"I see you found Kasey."

"How do you always know when one of us walks into a room?" Kasey asked, looking at the other woman in the room. Alicia just smiled back at her again and brushed her hair off of her bare shoulders.

"You smell like the rain." Kasey laughed and wondered what Johnny smelt like. Probably burnt plastic or something else that had recently been lit on fire. The sound of Sue clapping her hands together brought her attention back to the bride.

"So, how is everything?"

"Everything looks great. The flowers, the decorations, the reporters trying to catch that money shot of you and Reed kissing."

"How many reporters?"

"Go look out the window." Kasey said with an air of annoyance in her words. Over the Baxter Building with their cameras trained on the roof top reporters in helicopters hovered, clicking away at the guests already seated out there and down below, more of them blocked already gridlocked traffic and made it all the more difficult for other guests trying to get inside.

"Oh God…"

"Look at it this way, now you can fire the photographer."

"Not funny Kasey."

"I know. So, do you want to do anything?"

"See if you can make some of them leave." Inside, the voice in her head scoffed. There was no way in Hell she was going to get the swarm of people to leave, everyone wanted to be apart of this wedding.

"Okay. I'll try. A few people might walk away soaking wet, but I'll try."

"No powers Kase!" The younger woman's face fell and she snapped her fingers, giving Sue a sad look.

"You take the fun out of everything." She said as she gave her best friend half of a hug. "I'll go see what I can do. This isn't fair, today is your day." She told Sue before taking off back the way she came.

As she made her way toward the elevators that would take her down into the zoo of people, she passed by Reed's lab and backtracked when she saw both Reed and Ben in there. Reed was standing in front of a video monitor, talking with General Hager, the man who had basically recruited Reed to build a sensor of some kind to watch for any more of those odd anomalies that kept popping up all over the place. Creeping silently into the lab, well as quietly as her high heels would allow, Kasey slid up next to Ben and nudged one of his rocky arms.

"What's he doing?" She whispered.

"Linking the thing…" He said, nodding toward the sensor antenna that had taken the place of the General's face on the screen. "…to his PDA."

"I thought he wasn't going to do it."

"The other guy, the one Reed recommended didn't know what the hell he was doing, so Reed just did it himself."

"If you want it done right, do it yourself." She said, nodding.

"All right General, it's finished linking to my PDA. If anything should happen, you'll know." Reed said, turning back to the monitor that again had the General's face on it.

"Good. Now c'mon Reed. You're getting married in less than two hours and you aren't even cleaned up yet." Ben said, grabbing Mr. Fantastic by one of his elastic arms. Knowing that Ben had it covered, Kasey gently pecked both men on the cheek before slipping back out and finally making her way to the elevators. Downstairs was just as crazy as upstairs with just more people; there were familiar faces she knew elbowing and pushing their way toward the other elevators, hoping to get upstairs and then outside the revolving doors that, when friends and former colleagues weren't coming through, Kasey could make out a sea of reporters, all flashing and clicking away.

"Damn." She mumbled as she walked out through the doors, the second her palms touched the glass parts of it began to freeze up and frost over under her touch. As she stepped outside, the cameras turned on her and her vision became spotted with swirling blots of color, God how she hated camera flashes. All around her, reporters started screaming out questions, all calling her using either 'Kasey!', 'Miss Winters!' or their favorite 'Typhoon!' It was dizzying and no matter how loud she shouted, telling them all to calm down and stop yelling, no one seemed to hear her. Sighing, Kasey stepped out of her high heels, handed them to the door man and closed her eyes, slowly focusing inward. Inside she could feel the waters churning, drawing moisture out of the air and into her through the pours of her skin. Beneath her feet she felt a trickle of water that soon became the swell of a wave. The voice inside her head kept chanting over and over 'Go! Go! Go!' and finally she felt her powers catch. The wave she had created lifted her a good three feet over the ground, high enough for her to looking over everyone's head and to finally get them all to shut up.

"Look! Typhoon's flying in a bridesmaid's dress!" One photographer shouted and then came the flood of flashe bulbs.

"Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!" Kasey shouted over them. "Stop it! You all need to stop this! Today is Reed and Sue's day, it's not an open casting call for photographers! Go away!"

"Hun, there's no chance in hell we'd leave. It's our job to be here." Someone snapped up at her.

"Yeah well, Sue made it my job to make you leave!" The mindless and childish bickering went on for a few more minutes before Kasey finally grew tired of them and their constant comebacks and sorry excuses for being there. Letting her concentration go, her feet touched down on the damp concrete below, snatched her shoes back and stormed back into the building.

"Are you all right Miss Winters?" The doorman Jimmy asked, looking at her with a concerned gleam in his eyes.

"There's no reasoning with those people! The police can't even make them leave!"

"I feel sorry for Miss Storm and Mr. Richards."

"So do I." She said softly as she stepped back into the elevator and let the car take her back up. Back upstairs in familiar and less crowed space, Kasey made her way into the living room and dropped down onto the large blue couch next to Ben. Too afraid of ruining her up-do, she merely closed her eyes and drifted away. Away from the large presence next to her, the people on the street below and out on the roof. The two hours to the wedding passed quickly and before she knew it, Kasey was standing by the French doors, hidden behind a cloud of white bunting, that lead out to the roof top with a bouquet of simple white lilies in hand. She was waiting for the band to strike that one note she had remembered as her que; right after Ben went to stand near Reed in the best man's position and right before Sue came down the aisle on Johnny's arm. Hearing the band hit her note, she gently strode down the aisle herself, slowly counting her steps to keep herself from tripping and making a fool out of herself. All she needed was the white carpet to freeze under her feet. She smiled warmly, as warm as someone who's body temperature was below ten degrees could manage, at people she knew and all the familiar faces who had their eyes trained on her and then uneventfully slipped into her spot across from Reed and Ben.

"Ben, do you have the ring?" She heard Reed his to the Thing.

"Umh…yeah."

"What do you mean 'umh…yeah?' Ben?" Kasey hissed, her face hidden behind the lilies. But before the largest member of the team could answer, Reed's phone began to beep. Kasey rolled her eyes.

"Reed, turn your phone off!" Ben's gruff voice hissed.

"Actually this is a…" But his words ended as the string quartet began to play and he saw Sue. When Sue and Johnny began walking down, everyone at the same time gasped. There, down the center of the roof, came the Storm siblings, each wearing matching smiles and Kasey couldn't help but try and replicate it. As Johnny handed his sister off to Reed, Kasey winked at the Torch as he slid off to stand next to Johnny. Listening to the minister, Kase noticed Reed playing with something in his pocket—his phone—and bit back a glare when Sue noticed as well.

"Reed, you didn't actually bring that to our wedding, did you?" The bride whispered angrily to him.

"I have a good reason; we need to get this done quickly."

"That's romantic Stretch." Kasey said, her voice snapping more than she actually intended it to.

Nervous, the minister tried a different variation on the vows and began speaking again, only to be interrupted again by Reed.

"Can we skip to the end?"

"Excuse me?"

"Reed!"

"Reed!" The minister, Sue and Ben all but shrieked at the same time. Rolling her eyes, Kasey turned away from the rest of the wedding party and the curious glares from their guests and took a deep breath as she looked at the Manhattan sky line. With wide eyes, she watched as a smudge of heavy dark clouds sped across the sky line. Dark, almost purple-ish black clouds loamed over Central Park and quickly, as if crawling across, made their way toward the roof top. Each high black pillowy mass was thrumming with cosmic energy that made Kasey's hair stand on end. A loud, earth shaking clap of thunder broke from the sky, signaling a flood of lightening wasn't too far off. A beat later, electric hot bands of light shot from the clouds, flashing against a dark background. All eyes seemed to move from the alter to the clouds; even Reed and Sue were staring.

Again trying to regain control, the minister started speaking for a third time as the shadows of the clouds hovered above them. Reed was still rushing the man and for some sinking reason, Kasey was beginning to too. She watched as he kept checking his PDA in his pocket.

"Come on, come on. Let's go." She heard him mutter.

"Reed, what's wrong with you?" Sue snapped, looking at him. A second later, a large gust of wind came ripping across the roof, tearing up flowers, pulling silk from the arch Reed and Sue were standing under and sending guests screaming.

"Too late." He muttered.

All above the roof, those angry clouds hovered, each one darker and most dangerous looking than the rest. Up above them, Kasey watched as a bolt of white hot lightening struck one of the news chopper covering the event and gasped, in shock more than anything; the helicopter was falling down toward the roof. The heavy machine hit the side of the building with a shriek and then managed to fall with the large blade toward everyone. The arms of the blade ate through seats. Reed stood in front of Sue and Kasey, as if he was trying to shield them from the danger around them, and with both arms stretched out to pull a couple away from the blade. A strangled scream escaped Kasey as the chopper began making its way not only through more seats but now toward them. Stepping out from behind Reed, Kasey stretched out both hands, her bouquet long forgotten, and focused as hard as she could on the rapidly spinning blades.

"Sue! I need some help!" She shrieked, looking to the blonde bride on her left. With what sounded like a glacier giving way, thick sheets of ice layered the blades but didn't stop them from spinning like Kasey had hoped. "Sue!" As she called out a second time, she watched through a substance that looked like blurred glassed as Ben leapt in front of the helicopter and took the brunt of the still churning blades, protecting Alicia behind him. Ice flew everywhere as Ben smashed his fist into the blades and with wide eyes, Kasey watched as the shards bounced off Sue's force field. Watching it fall, she let out a breath she had been holding in, behind her she heard Sue do the same thing. Looking around her, Kasey felt her heart break for Susie, everything was ruined: tables, chairs, flowers, the band's instruments and stands. Turning, she watched with a sad look in her eyes as Sue picked up her bouquet of white roses and examined; they were just as ruined as everything else, as her now tattered dress and perfectly done hair. As she dropped it, Kasey pulled her into a tight sisterly embrace and gently patted her back; she could feel Ben, Reed and Johnny on either side of her.

"Reed, what the hell was that?" Johnny growled as his now former soon to be brother in law.

"The source of the anomalies, it's here." Reed told them in a stunned voice. Without a sound or warning, something silver streaked over head and left a bright trail in its wake, glowing against the black clouds. Everything about the object was silver, from the man like form it took on, to the board it had been standing on top of. Above them, it just hung there, hovering as if waiting for someone to do something. Just as fast as it had appeared, the figure merely took one last look at them and then sped off.

"Johnny…" Reed's voice broke the stunned silence.

"C'mon, I just bought this tux." But one look from their leader and he knew there was no fighting. Kasey watched Johnny do what he did best, he ran toward the edge of the roof and the dove into the air, somewhere below them she heard him shout 'Flame on!' A second later, he shot back up; this time encased in burning red and oranges flames.

"Kasey, go with him." Sue said suddenly, watching her brother streak off through the sky.

"Are you serious? I got my nails done for today! My nails Sue!"

"Kasey, go." Slipping out of her heels again and taking off her necklace, which she left in Sue's safe keeping, Kasey sighed as she mimed Johnny's actions and jumped into the air. She didn't shout out any instructions for her powers, just focused and when she came back up, just like Johnny had, she knew her body was encased in the fast moving, swirling blue waves that helped propel her through the air.

It didn't take too long to spot Johnny or the Silver form, all she had to look for was red on blue and silver on blue. Catching up was the hard part, but she urged the waves to move faster and they did. She caught up to Johnny as they zoomed past the Chrysler Building; the Silver Surfer—he reminded her of one, given the way he moved on that board—had flown clear through the windows, while she took the left and Johnny the right. Seeing the Surfer stop, hanging right in the air, Kasey slowed down a little and looked over to Johnny was staring up at the being with stars in his eyes.

"Aww, that's so cool."

"Johnny, not now!" She scolded as the chase started up again. On either side of her, she counted off familiar land marks, like the Empire State Building and the two rivers on either side of the island. Following the Surfer, Kasey and Johnny found themselves at the mouth to the Lincoln Tunnel and inwardly, Kasey felt her insides sink; they were leaving the city. As they flew through the tunnel, no one in their cars seemed to notice, and life went on as usual.

"…_New Yorkers."_ Kasey thought as she watched the Surfer glide through a bus, again her and Johnny took the sides. Past the bus, the Surfer found a flatbed hauling wooden pallets and with a flick of the wrist, sent two flying their way. Without even thinking, Kasey froze the one coming at her and winced as it dropped onto the hood on a car below. Johnny wasn't as quick, he burned through some of the wood, but most of it hit him head on. A scream came from her watery form as he tumbled into the side wall of the tunnel, clutching his side.

"Johnny!" She shrieked, looking back. What felt like seconds later—and probably was—the three figures rose out of the tunnel and jetted down the Jersey coast line. On her and Johnny's left was the Atlantic Ocean and soon, the Washington Monument came into view. With his hand outstretched, Kasey felt the heat from the ball of fire that Johnny hurtled at the Surfer rush past her and struck him in the back, causing him to wobble on his board. Spinning around the silver being stopped and stared at the both of them, with his own hand out stretched; Johnny ran smack into him. He grabbed him around the throat and let him hang there, full flame.

"Lets see what it takes to melt this silver butt of yours." Kasey heard him say as she floated there, watching the entire thing. It had taken her a second less to slow down, stopping her from winding up like Johnny and with her fist balled, tried to summon up the largest block of ice she could. Johnny burned so brightly it was reflecting off both her watery form and the Surfer's metallic skin; Kasey squinted and tried to close her eyes. But the heat did nothing to the Surfer. His fingers wrapped tighter around Johnny's neck and kept rising higher in the sky. Kasey followed and around her she watched the sky fade from light blue to the black inky color of space. The cold attacked her, her lungs straining to keep up and part of her wondered about Johnny, fire needed oxygen to thrive and there was none up where they were. What had been the beacon she was following, Johnny's flames started to die down until they were barely embers dancing on his skin.

"Let him go!" Her own voice was strained and deep inside, she felt her core growing colder, her fists already turning to ice. Now with enough power behind her, she flung a large block of ice at him and nearly screamed when he merely brushed it off.

"Umh…you win?" She heard Johnny's voice travel into her ears and felt her heart lurch as the Surfer dropped her friend.

"No! No! No! Damnit!" Kasey shouted, diving down after him. She could hear him shouting, calling for the flames to come and on one of the last tries, just before she was about to reach for him, she watched him light up the sky around them. But it didn't stop his rough landing. Johnny rolled and skidded across the rough ground that was still a good distance away from her. Kasey landed a little more gracefully, but not much. The minute she touched the ground, her knees gave out and she was nose first in sand; her chest heaving and fingers digging into the ground. Johnny was sprawled out next to her, holding onto his side.

"Kase?"

"Gimmie a minute." She muttered, sitting back on her toes. With the water gone, she was sitting there in a scrap of dress, barely keeping her covered. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Johnny get to his feet and check himself over, looking for any more aches and pains.

In front of them, two men on horses watched and smiles broke out on their faces, one even clapped for them.

"Where the hell are we?"

"Mexico." One of them said.

"Great."

"Johnny?"

"Yeah Kase?" He asked, turning in time to see Kasey stand up on wobbly legs and sore feet.

"I wanna go home." She huffed.


	3. A Cold Shower

**Hi guys, quick note. I want to thank everyone who's reviewed so far. I really appericate it. I love reading what you guys thinks. Anways, I saw the second movie yesterday after work...umh...loved it. So, this is chapter three. I might've changed things a smidge just to help Kasey fit in a little better. I hope you guys like Kasey. And I even threw in a little flash back to the first movie just for fun. Hope everyone likes this chapter as much as the last two. I can't wait to know what you guys think. Keep reading and reviewing. --B.E**

**Chapter Two- A Cold Shower**

The minute Kasey saw the New York City skyline come into view; she jetted away from Johnny's fiery form and streaked off toward the Baxter Building. As soon as her bare and close to bleeding feet touched down on the roof top, the same roof top that was covered with the shattered pieces of the wedding, all the streaming water that had been flowing around Kasey vanished with each step she took and gingerly made her way over to the large French doors. She walked into the living room just in time to see Reed and Sue, flanked by General Hager and Captain Raye, heading toward the lab.

"Kasey!" Kasey winced as Sue's surprised squeal hit her ears, the growing pain behind her eyes spiked for a second. "Kasey! You're back! I was so worried about you guys. Where's Johnny? Is he all right? Are you all right?" As Sue's arms wrapped around her, she tensed and bit back a groan; everything hurt, from her broken acrylic nails to her teeth.

"Sue, let go. You're hurting me." Pushing away from her friend, Kasey backed out of her arms and slowly back pedaled toward the back hallways that lead down to her room. "I'm fine, outside of everything hurting. Johnny's right behind me, he's fine. I'm going to take a shower; I need to get all the space gunk and dust off of me."

"_Space gunk_? Kasey, what exactly happened out there?"

"Ask Johnny when he comes back Reed. I'm tired, my feet hurt and I'm covered in dust, all I want to do right now is take a shower." She almost whined, waving Mr. Fantastic off with a dismissive flick of her wrist. She knew she wasn't going to get away as easy as she just did, just walk away from Reed and pretend to ignore the stare behind her; nothing was ever _that _easy.

"Kasey, wait!" And there it was, with a sigh she turned back around and cocked an eye brow at Reed.

"Shower, Reed. That's all I want."

"I know, but what the cause of the anomalies?"

"The Surfer?" As she and Johnny flew back, they had a quick discussion about everything that had happened and over the course of those few minutes, they had named the silver being the Silver Surfer; not very creative but it did it's part.

"The What?" Reed asked as his brows came together in a confused knot; Sue, Hager and Raye wore the same expression.

"The cause of the…never mind. Again, ask Johnny when he comes back. He knows more about the damn thing than I do, it touched him." She said and than regretted it; Reed was about to open his mouth again…well not if she had any say in the matter. Before he even got the chance to form a decent sentence, Kasey winked and a crystal blue tinged sheen of ice graced his lips. "Now that we're done talking, I'm off to take my shower and find some new clothes." She said, waving down at the tattered remains of her dress.

Annoyed due to the questioning, each step Kasey took turned the ground below her feet to puddles that froze over the second her toes left the floorboards. Coming to her bedroom, which was startlingly colder than the other rooms in the apartment, Kasey grabbed new clothes, slipped out of the dress and headed into her bathroom. Turning on the water in her custom made shower, the "hottest" the water went was forty degrees and it only went there if Kase was in the mood for warm water, Kasey stepped under the spray and slid the door shut behind her. The cool water that snaked down her body hit her with the drumming pulse that she loved; some of it sunk into her skin, being drawn into her icy core while the rest of it swirled down the drain. She could feel the dull aches and pains literally wash away and the kinks slowly worked themselves out in her shoulders. Under the heavy spray, she felt herself relax and her thoughts float away. Kasey knew if she didn't keep herself in check she'd wind up either smacking her head on the shower head as she lifted up off the ground or her molecules would literally melt away and she'd become nothing but a puddle on the floor; that had only happened twice since she got her powers.

----

Two Years Earlier

"Event threshold in ten seconds…"

Kasey came around the corner at a break neck speed, so fast she nearly flew into Sue and almost sent both of them to the ground hard. She had been listening to the computer's warning for the past five minutes, ever since she came back from the cargo bay. She had been in there looking for reports and data sheets on the cloud and when she emerged, a stack of papers in hand, she heard the cool hollow sounding voice coming through the speakers telling her that she only had five minutes to get somewhere safe.

"Kasey!" Sue gasped, her hand clamped around Kasey's upper arm and settling her.

"Sue, what's going on?"

"The cloud, it sped up. We only have a few seconds."

"Where are Johnny, Reed and Ben?"

"Trying to get Ben back inside."

"Son of a bitch!" Without saying anything else, both women started running again and this time finally made it to the air lock. Racing down the halls, Kasey paused for a second as Sue rushed past her; it was as if she was frozen to the ground. With her jaw hanging open, she watched Ben float through the darkness as he was literally chased by a wall of red and very much alive cosmic energy. "Jesus…" Her voice trailed off when Sue reached back and pulled her along.

"Event threshold in four seconds…"

The voice chimed as Sue and Kasey made it to the air lock. Standing next to her best friend, Kasey looked toward Johnny and Reed, both pressed up against the window and cheering Ben on, hoping the louder the yelled, the faster Ben would move out of harm's way. Seeing the cloud getting closer, too close to do anything more than stand there and wait it out, Kasey shouted a warning to them, most likely along the lines of 'Look out!' and then felt something with the force of a Mac truck slam into her. It was like standing on the shore at the beach waiting for the waves to roll over your bare feet, but this felt as if a tsunami came and crashed down on top of her. Kasey was drowning in the cosmic power, it was like she had gotten caught in the undertow at the Jersey Shore and she was helpless, with no lifeguard on duty to pull her out of the churning waters. The force of the slam had knocked her backwards and just as the cloud of energy vanished from sight; Kasey felt the warmth of her blood trickling down her neck and gave into the dark calm that was starting to inch in on her vision.

Kasey blinked herself awake and after clearing the blurs and swirls away from her vision, she found herself staring up at a starch white ceiling and heard machines chirping in her ears. Groaning, she instinctively brought a hand to the back of head and gingerly ran it over the rough binding of stitches that crawled their way up the back of her skull. When she poked it too hard, she saw stars again and winced, her breath hitching. The sound apparently caught someone's attention because the image of the ceiling was replaced by the face of a woman who appeared to be in her late thirties and had a warm smile.

"You're awake! Good! That's very good, glad to see you're back Miss Winters."

"How long have I been out?"

"Almost three days, we were worried about you. Thought we might've lost you due to that concussion. And before you ask, you have ten stitches back there."

"Great, just great." She groaned again as she licked her lips, she bit back a growl when she felt how chapped they had gotten.

"It could've been much worse Miss Winters, just think of it that way."

"I will and please, don't call me Miss Winters. It's Kasey. Can I ask you something…Umh…I don't know your name." Kasey said as the nurse pressed a button and slowly, her bed was rising up in the back so she could sit.

"I'm Carol and I'll be taking care of you, I should've said that in the beginning huh?"

"Guess so." Kasey said, laughing slightly. "Do you know anything about my friends? Ya know, Reed, Sue, Johnny and Ben?"

"Mr. Richards and Mr. Storm are up about; actually Mr. Storm is this close to clawing down the walls just so he can get out. Miss Storm woke up late yesterday afternoon, but she's still resting. And Mr. Grimm, woke up a few hours ago, I heard him chasing Mr. Storm out of his room." Carol said, laughing to herself.

"Sounds like Johnny's fine." Kasey said; so outside of her stitches and Ben being out as long as she had been, they were good. A small smile appeared on her lips as she looked up at Carol. "So if they're up and about, as you said, can I be too?"

Twenty minutes later, Kasey was standing in her bathroom with the tooth brush Carol had given her in hand and reached over to turn the faucet on. A steady stream of water poured down into the basin and with a bead of blue tooth paste of her brush, she went about scrubbing the taste of sleep out of her mouth. When she rinsed the brush off, she cupped her hands together and had planned on using the pooled water in her palms to splash her face with, hoping to wake herself up; when she saw there was no more water there. Cocking an eye brow, she repeated the action and this time, gasped at what she saw happening. The water hadn't seeped out through her fingers; instead it had been absorbed into her skin.

"No, no. It's just the concussion, I'm seeing things. I must've hit my head harder than I thought. No." She chanted, trying to regain some composure. Watching the water pool together for a third time and just as the time before and probably the first time as well, it began to seep into her skin, as if her palms were drinking it up. "What the hell?" She mumbled, walking away from the sink as if it burned. Looking down at her hands, she flicked her wrist, letting out a deep breath when the bone cracked, but almost screamed when she watched a jet of water fly from her finger tips. When the small puddle hit the floor, she inched towards it and gently poked at it. Watching with wide eye curiosity, she saw the puddle grow in size.

"Kasey?" Hearing Carol outside, she panicked and without warning, the water sunk back into her skin as if it was as natural as breathing and the tiles below were dry, like nothing had happened.

"Better not tell anyone about this." She murmured as she went out to meet her nurse.

Back in her room, she grabbed the clothes Carol had left her; a pair of black linen pants, a tank top and hooded sweat shirt. She left her robe on her bed and once she had on slippers, gently padded outside. She found out from a nurse that Johnny had just gotten back from wherever he had gone, Ben had gone back to his room since he wasn't feeling well and Sue and Reed were still sitting in the cafeteria's dining room. Making her way into the cafeteria, Kasey found her two friends sitting at a table all their own talking about something private. A shiver ran through her and she pulled her sweat shirt around her tighter. She was freezing, but the room around her was more than comfortable.

"Kase, you're awake!" Reed said, catching her attention. Smiling at him, she shuffled over and looked down at the two of them. "How are you? You look a little cold."

"I'm freezing."

"It's not cold in here at all."

"Sue, I mean it, I'm freezing. It feels like I'm cold from the inside out." She said, as her bottom lip began to quiver.

"Why don't you ask for something warm to eat?"

"Yeah, sounds good. When I come back, can I sit with you guys? I don't want to go back to my room." The two looked at each other and then nodded. "Thanks guys." Walking out of the dining area and into the hall, Kasey was nearly plowed into by Johnny. Shrieking in surprise and fear at the sight of Sue's younger brother, Kasey caught her breath and then looked at him; the only thing he was wearing was a bright pink ski jacket that he had wrapped around his waist.

"Umh…wanna explain that?" Kasey asked, pointing toward the jacket.

"It's a long story."

"I have time, I just woke up."

"Kase, you gotta check this out. I know you'll get a kick out of it." He said grinning as he held the jacket together with one hand and brought his other up toward her face.

"Get away from me."

"No, you gotta watch this."

"Johnny…" She grumbled, looking at her friend.

"Just watch, 'kay?"

"Fine." With a snap of his fingers, a bright orange flame appeared before her eyes, the fire dancing just above his finger tips. "…holy crap. Johnny…that's…"

"Fire! I know and before, it was everywhere."

"Everywhere?"

"Yeah." Thinking back to the bathroom, Kasey smiled at him. "What's that look for?"

"Do it again Johnny, I wanna try something."

"All right." Hearing him snap, she tried to remember what she had been doing when the water came from her hand, but couldn't. Brows furrowing, she tried something else and actually thought about the water jetting from her finger tips. Feeling something rise up inside her, and bit back a laugh at the shocked expression on Johnny's face with his fingers—and flames—were dosed with water.

"How'd…how…dude! Dude, Kase did you see what you did?"

"Yeah."

"It was awesome!"

"I know."

"How'd you do that?"

"Dunno. Think we should tell Reed and Sue?"

"Yeah, let's go in." Together, the two turned back toward the dining room and rushed in to show off their newest discovery.

----

Present

Sliding the shower door open, Kasey stepped down onto the black bathroom mat and reached for her clothes. She didn't need a towel to dry her body off, the water just sunk deeper into her skin anyways, but her hair…that was another matter. For some reason, her hair didn't dry like the rest of her; it had to be done either by hand or a blow dryer. Once in her jeans and a tank top, Kasey grabbed her towel and walked out, just in time to see Reed, a confused and almost upset looking Johnny and a still blushing and teetering on fuming Sue wrapped in Reed's jacket walk into her room.

"Umh…what's up?" She asked confusion evident in her voice as she scrubbed at her damp brown hair.

"We have a problem." Reed said, looking at her.

"And what might that be? Sue, are you okay? What happened to your clothes?"

"That's the problem." Sue snapped and Kasey held a hand up in defense, she didn't need to get bitten.

"So…our problem is that Sue's walking around naked in your jacket, Reed?"

"No. Her clothes burned off."

"So Johnny did it?" Kasey asked, obviously she missed something.

"Partially."

"Hey! I didn't plan on our powers switching. And besides, she touched me!" Johnny squawked

"You two switch…wait, you two switched powers?!" Kasey asked, her voice rising and a laugh bubbling up with it.

"It's not funny Kase."

"Oh my dear Johnny, you were invisible! Someone answered my prayers, even if it was for a few seconds."

"Being invisible sucks, no offense Sue. And how about I touch you? See how you like it."

"Like being on fire? Thusly make you feel like me with a body temperature of twenty-five degrees and a body made up of seventy-five percent water? Go ahead Match Stick, I'd love to see you cool off." She told him, a grin on her face, as she reached her hand out for his. Just before the two touched, Reed grabbed Kasey by the wrist and glared at the both of them.

"You two are not switching powers! You can't just play with it like it's a new toy. This could be serious. Come on, we'll go run some tests in the lab. You too Kase." Rolling her eyes at Reed, she threw her towel back in the bathroom, grabbed a brush and followed them.

"How come I feel an 'it's altered our DNA' lecture coming on?" She muttered as she shut her bedroom door.


	4. Switch 'Em Up

Hi guys! Before the chapter, I just want to thank everyone for all the reviews and feedback. I'm glad you all like Kasey and I hope you keep liking her. But really, thanks for the reviews, I love knowing what you guys think. I hope you like this chapter just as much as the others, keep reading and reviewing.--B.E

10/2/07- I went back and edited this chapter. There's a new scene when Johnny and Kasey switch powers for the first time. --B.E

Chapter Three- Switch 'Em Up

Still more than half asleep, Kasey trudged out of her bedroom and made her way toward the kitchen. Of course she bumped into almost every piece of furniture that she could find and tripped over herself a few times; but that was bound to happen since she was walking around with her eyes still closed. In the kitchen, she moved purely out of habit: third cabinet, second shelf—coffee cup, turn around, on the right—coffee pot with fresh coffee, and then two steps to the left and in the bottom pantry cabinet—cereal bar. Ripping open the wrapper, she tugged the strawberry filled bar out with her teeth and bit off a chunk.

"There ya are Drip." Cracking an eye lid at the sound of the nickname Ben had given her, Kasey found Ben's large body taking up a good portion of the doorway that led out into the living room. "Good. Now I don't have to go down to your bedroom and pound on the door." He told her as his rocky face split into a grin; if she was more awake, she would've tried to smile back. Kasey had never been a morning person, from the time she was a kid to that morning and being a "superhero" hadn't made her enjoy the mornings any more than she did before the whole cosmic cloud thing.

"Tired Ben, so tired." She mumbled around a mouthful, her eyes struggling to stay open and then brought her electric lime green mug to her lips. The hot liquid was a shock to her icy system, but no matter what, caffeine was caffeine and she needed something to help her wake up, so she could calmly rejoin the human race without biting someone's hand off.

"Too bad Drip, Reed needs us in the lab." Groaning, she held her mug with both hands and turned up the cold, almost enough to make her coffee resemble one of those iced coffee drinks she could get at Dunkin' Doughnuts.

"Why? What for? I just got up."

"It's almost eleven thirty, you know Reed. He's been up since…"

"…daybreak. I know. So what does he want?"

"Something about Johnny." Rolling her eyes, she grabbed the remaining half of her cereal bar and together, she and Ben made their way back to the lab. Now with a good sized burst of actually energy running through her, Kasey tucked back a few wayward strands of hair and then looked at Ben.

"Have you talked to Alicia?" She asked, knowing he had spent most of the night with her before driving her back to her place around eleven.

"This morning?" Came the gruff reply.

"Yeah."

"A little while ago."

"How is she? I didn't get a chance to talk to her after…" Her wrist spun around, a small stream of water trailing behind her fingers as she looked for the right word. "…everything."

"She's good. A little shaken up still, but she's good. She's Alicia." He told her and that was all she needed, she could see it in Ben's blue eyes. Alicia was fine so in turn, Ben was even better. She was happy for them, happy for Ben. He needed someone like her in his life after everything that had happened.

"Good, that's good. I'm glad she's okay. Maybe I'll call her later."

"She'd like that." Ben said, pushing open the door to the lab.

Walking inside Reed's home away from home, Ben made his way over to where Mr. Fantastic was standing and tapped his shoulder, nodding toward her. Reed twisted his neck around, not even bothering to stand up straight from his hunched position over his microscope and threw a rather distracted good morning her way. Trying not to roll her eyes at him, Kasey turned her attention to the other two people in the room with them. Johnny was resting against one of the counter tops, his arms braced behind him and for the first time in a long time, Kasey could honestly say he looked nervous. His fingers drummed restlessly and even from where she was standing, she could practically feel the twitchy, fidgety, nervous energy pouring off of him. Sue stood next to him with what Kasey had nicknamed the 'older sister' look on her face and every so often, when their eyes met, gave her younger brother a sad yet understanding smile. Her heart wrenched for Johnny; she felt somewhat guilty. Both of them had gone after the Surfer and he was the one who came back with the big, bad, boo-boo…not her. It easily could've been her. Stuffing the rest of the strawberry bar into the pockets of the baggy sweat pants she wore to bed, Kasey padded softly over to Johnny and stepped into his personal space. Smiling up at him, she reached out to stroke the side of his face and was just about to touch his skin when one of Reed's easily stretched out hands slapped hers away.

"Don't touch him."

"Excuse me?" She snapped, wheeling around to look at Reed. "First off, don't hit me. And secondly, why can't I? What's wrong with him?"

"Ever since last night I've been going over and over the results from all the tests I did on you, Sue and Johnny…"

"You mean all the stupid tests you made me stick around for, even after you were done with me."

"Kasey, you're fine. Like you said, the Surfer didn't touch you. But yesterday, when he touched Johnny he must've done something to him. And whatever that something was, triggered the switch of powers between Johnny and Sue."

"So what about the results? What did the Surfer do?" Sue asked, her eyes locking on her fiancé.

"Just like Kasey, you're fine Sue. All of your results are normal. But Johnny's…" His voice trailed off a little as he turned back to look at the microscope he had been looking through.

"But Johnny's what?" Johnny asked and Kasey nearly flinched at the panic she heard in his voice.

"Your encounter with the Surfer affected you somehow; your molecules are in a constant state of flux."

"Is that bad?"

"It's not good Johnny." Kasey said, looking at him.

"Kasey's right. Whatever the Surfer did to cause the flux is the reason why you and Sue temporarily changed powers." Reed explained and then began to continue. "We could do a test and see if it happens again." Sue took a step back and shook her head; she wasn't up for switching again.

Feeling Reed's gaze fall on her, Kasey shook her head and backed up toward Sue. What would happen if she and Johnny switched? Whenever they messed around and started using their powers against each other, they always canceled the other out; Johnny couldn't get a flame to flicker if Kasey had drenched him and if Johnny made the room too hot, it literally dried her out and Kasey had no water to fight back with. Would the same thing happen if they switched? Would they cancel each other out and be left standing there with no powers until they switched back.

"I'll do it!" Ben's voice pulled her from her thoughts and as she shook the cobwebs loose, she watched him walk up toward Johnny. She hated doing it, but she bit back a laugh when Johnny literally crawled up on the counter and tried to inch away from Ben's advancements.

"Guys make him stop! Kase, stop him! Do something. C'mon guys! Stop!" But no one did anything and before Johnny could complain anymore, Ben slapped a hand onto his shoulder. As quickly as it came, the flash of light that erupted when the contact was made, disappeared before Kasey could cover her eyes and when she dropped her hand back down to her side, her eyes went as wide as they could go. A few feet away from her stood Ben, not the Thing Ben, but Ben Grimm the man she had known for years. Instead of the rocky orange exterior, Ben's skin was flicked with small flames that slowly burst into larger ones, like the ones Johnny used when he flew.

"Not bad." Ben muttered, admiring the flames that sparked up off of his fingers.

"Oh dude!" All eyes snapped onto Johnny. Instead of the flames, Johnny was the one covered in Ben's thick skin. "This sucks!"

"Now you know how I feel." Ben said, watching the flames leap higher in his palm. Kasey rolled her eyes at the two of them and turned to Sue, who just shook her head. Listening to Ben and Johnny fight always came to the point where it even began to draw on Kasey's nerves, and she was the one who usually egged both of them on; and that point came when Ben threw a burst of fire into Johnny's rocky chest.

"Now I see why you think that's so funny. It's great." Ben said, laughing as Kasey stood in between them and with a spray of water, doused the flames that trickled down Johnny's shirt.

"I want my powers back, yours suck." Johnny whined as he stuck his arm out and grabbed Ben. Ducking around the two, Kasey watched them switch back. Seeing Johnny back to being Johnny and Ben back as Ben, Kasey reached over and grabbed something reflective, handing it to the Torch. Shaking her head as he smiled at his own features, she looked over to Reed and sighed.

"What are we going to do? Apparently, even the slightest touch triggers it. So, what do we do now?" She asked, looking at everyone who stood around her and waited for an answer, hopefully Reed would have one.

"Until I can come up with a cure, Johnny, you'll have to keep a distance from all of us." Reed said, not only to Johnny and her but to Sue and Ben as well. Nodding slowly, Kasey bit her lip as Johnny walked out of the lab quietly ignored Ben's comment about the two of them spending time together and then fixed her gaze back onto Reed.

"You have to do more than that Reed. You can't just tell him to stay away from us until you figure something out."

"Kasey what do you want me to say? That it's all right for him to be switching powers?"

"He knows that but telling him to stay away isn't the best thing for him." She snapped as she grabbed her now almost empty coffee cup and brushed past Reed; the air that trailed behind her was noticeably colder.

Watching the younger woman walk out of his lab, Reed was tempted to stretch an arm out and drag her back in, but one look from Sue stopped him. With her hand wrapped gently around his elbow, she looked up at him with her blues eyes and gave him a soft smile.

"Let her be. And besides, if there's anyone who can get through to Johnny, it's Kasey."

"You're right. But she has a point. I can't just tell him to steer clear of us. Who knows how long it'll take to find a way to cure him."

"Reed, if anyone can fix this, it's you." Sue told him, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

Out in the living room, Kasey breezed through it like an icy wind and just like back in the lab, left cold flecks of ice in her wake. Padding toward her room, she stopped at the open door before hers and knocked softly. Johnny stood with his back to her, closing his dresser drawer and tossed the shirt he had been wearing into the hamper. She watched as he pulled another shirt, this one just a plain black tee, over his head and then turned toward her.

"Hey Kase." He muttered, grabbing his jacket off of his bed.

"Hey Johnny. Where are you going?"

"Out."

"Why?"

"Keeping a distance."

"Johnny, Reed just said that…"

"I know why he said that. But I need some air. I'll be back later." He murmured, sliding past her, arms up and making a show of not touching her. Clenching her fists together, Kasey walked back out and went back to her room. Before dropping down onto her bed, she grabbed her cell phone off of her desk and scrolled through her phone book until she came to Alicia's number.

"Hello?"

"Hey Alicia, its Kasey…" The two friends stayed on the phone for a few hours, talking about the wedding, Ben, Johnny, and then whatever else popped into their heads. Kasey liked Alicia from the first time they met. She knew the other woman was perfect for Ben; she didn't need to see the Thing to see Ben. Alicia could see him without even seeing him; she didn't need her eyes to know that Ben was a good man. And besides, she made him happy and in Kasey's book, that was all that mattered.

Hours later and after ordering herself something to eat from the Chinese restaurant down the street, Kasey sat in the living room alone, idly picking at her fried rice and stared at the TV in front of her. The news was on and yet again, the station was running the "highlights" from the ruined wedding ceremony.

"For God sakes, when is this going to stop?" She muttered to herself and shook her head; there was no one around to answer her. Reed was tucked away in his lab, too wrapped up in his work to even realize it was just him and Kasey left in the Baxter. Ben had gone out to get a drink while Sue and Alicia had gone out for dinner with another friend of theirs. Johnny still hadn't come back yet and Kasey had a feeling she wasn't going to see him for the rest…

"Kase! Sue! Ben! Reed! Anyone here?!" Turning around so she could look at the front door, Kasey saw Johnny walking toward her and rolled her eyes; guess she was wrong. "Where's everyone? Jimmy said they all went out."

"Ben, Sue and Alicia did. Reed's in the lab and I'm out here. So, where were you?" She asked, as he draped his coat over the back of the couch before sitting down next to her.

"Just around, just walked around that's all."

"Huh, not what I thought you were doing."

"And what did you think?"

"I dunno, something more Johnny-ish." Rolling his eyes, Kasey watched as he slumped down onto the couch and grabbed the remote, turning the news off and switching over to ESPN. "Why do we have to watch this crap?" She moaned.

"It's better than the news." He had her there. Shrugging, she pulled her legs up under her and watched the sports highlights.

"Hey Kase, have you umh…talked to Reed or Sue at all since I left?" Johnny asked, breaking the silence during a commercial.

"Not really, why?"

"Just asking."

"Johnny, you can't do that. What's going on now?"

"All right, but don't tell them I told you."

"Johnny, why would I tell them?"

"Just a heads up."

"Fine, whatever. I won't tell. C'mon, tell me." She begged, turning on the couch so she could face Johnny.

"On my way out, I overhead…"

"You mean you were eavesdropping again." Kasey said, her brows knitting together.

"No, I _overheard_ them about what they're going to do after they get married."

"Go on a honeymoon? Johnny, where are you going with this?"

"Not a honeymoon, I mean family stuff. The team's breaking up."

"What? Why?"

"Sue wants to be normal and Reed said once everything's over they're moving, he'll teach somewhere and they'll be normal."

"They do realize they can't be normal, no matter how hard they try, right?"

"I dunno. It's just what I heard." Falling back against the cushions, Kasey folded her arms over her chest and stared up at the ceiling. So the team was breaking up? What would happen to her, Johnny and Ben? What would they become? Would they stay the Fantastic Five just minus two? Or maybe the Terrific Three? That didn't sound right. Sighing, she jumped when she heard the phone ring and out of habit, grabbed the cordless phone off the end table.

"Hello?"

"Kasey, its Sue."

"Hey Sue, what's up?"

"Did Johnny come back yet?"

"Yeah, he just came in a little while ago. You wanna talk to him?" She asked, getting ready to hand the phone over to the Human Torch.

"Yes." Nodding, she pulled the phone away from her ear and passed it over. Without even thinking about it, Kasey's hand touched Johnny's and a second later, her world went white; Kasey swore she was on fire. It was hot; everything was hot, from her finger nails to the very ends of her hair. Everything. She had gotten so used to feeling cold all the time that anything above her temperature was too hot most of the time. Instead of the water rushing up within her, she could feel the flames coiling and swirling from the inside out, the heat trying to escape from her skin. And when she let it, she watched as the flames swam around the palm of her hand, the fire skipping around her fingers Swallowing a scream that threatened to escape her lips, she opened her eyes just in time to feel herself lurch off the couch and watched the melted plastic glob that had been the cordless phone fall to the ground.

The flames surprised her. They weren't much different than her water, it wasn't that hard to control and it didn't hurt like she thought it would. Instead of the burning she always thought she'd feel; it was more like a pins and needles feeling she could get used to. The flames only trickled across her skin where if she had been normal, she would have been hollowing in pain. The clothes she had been wearing had burnt off, leaving her in nothing but the skin she was born with. Where was her suit when she needed it? Oh, hanging up in her closet. Reed had told her a million times that the material adapted to her body, but what good was it doing her in her room? And now she was on friggin' fire! Would the suit still recognized her? With her mind flying at a million miles a second, Kasey felt the ground leave her and screamed as she began hovering toward the ceiling.

"Johnny! Johnny, how do I make it stop?!" She shrieked, looking down at the shivering form of the Human Torch. Johnny seemed to be having a harder time than her, the portion of the couch he was sitting on had already frozen solid and it looked like a dam had burst, the water Kasey was used to sorting away had rushed from Johnny's skin and was slowly flooding the living room. It hadn't occurred to her, the two had a major difference in body temperature; Johnny's was normally something over two hundred degrees while hers barely reached twenty below. "Johnny! He got out between chattering teeth.

"I know it's cold! How do you think I feel? It's hot over here! Focus! How do I make this stop?!"

"Flame…flame…flame off." Listening to his instructions, the flames melted away and she touched back down on the hardwood floor below. Crossing over to him, Kasey placed her too hot hands on the sides of his face and winced when the white light covered them for that second. The minute the change happened; Kasey felt the cold fly through her and never once in the time since she got her powers had she been so glad to feel the chill echoing from the inside out. Prying her hands off of his now very warm cheeks, Kasey shivered for some reason and let out a breath, without even knowing the air around her had gone cold enough so her breath came out like a moist cloud of air.

"Kay?" Johnny said, coughing into his hand as he looked away. Looking down at herself, Kasey remembered where her suit was and wasn't. Shrieking, she grabbed his jacket off the couch and pulled it on, zipping up and then buttoning the button under her chin. She'd be damned if he got to see anymore than he already did.

"You can look now." She snapped, folding her arms protectively over her chest.

"You look good in my clothes." Smacking him on the shoulder, the material of his shirt protecting her from another change.

"Shut up Johnny."

"All right." He said, rubbing the spot on his arm where her hand had just been. "How the hell do you live like that?"

"What do you mean?"

"It's freezing."

"Like being you is a walk in the park. I've never been that hot before. Christ." She mumbled. "Gotta clean up the water." Walking toward the flash flood like puddle, she gently prodded it with the tips of her fingers and concentrated. A few seconds later, the floor was dry, water was gone and Johnny noticed a blue tinge to Kasey's lips.

"Your lips are blue."

"I'm not talking to you Johnny."

"Why's that?"

"Because of you, my favorite pair of jeans are a pile of ash now."

"Hey! You touched me!" Johnny shouted back at her as she gently padded toward the kitchen to put her dishes away.

"No I didn't! You touched me!"

"No! You did it!"

"You did!"

"You did!"

"You did!" They both shouted one last time before Kasey threw her hands up in the air out of frustration.

"Whatever Johnny. Just shut up. And call Sue back, she's gonna wanna know what happened." She told him, dropping her plate in the sink and then turned toward her room.

"Where are you going?"

"To my room to get dressed."

"Why don't just stay in the suit?"

"Because I can't go out on a date wearing my superhero clothes." She told him as he got up off the couch and followed her down the hall.

"You're going out?"

"Yes, on a date. A real honest to God date. That's right Mr. Storm, I said it, Typhoon has a date with a charming man who bought her coffee the other day in Central Park."

"Well, what am I supposed to do?" Turning on her heel to face Johnny, she smiled brightly at him.

"Thaw out the couch and then make sure Reed doesn't tie himself in a knot working. Now, I have to go do my hair." She told him with a wave of her fingers before back pedaling the rest of the way down the hall.


	5. Good Morning Sunshine

**Chapter Four- Good Morning Sunshine**

"Hey Drip, have ya seen Tinkerbell at all this mornin'?"

Looking up from the newspaper, a pen cap wedged between her teeth, Kasey peered over at Ben and cocked a dark arching eye brow. Why would she know where Johnny was? She hadn't seen him since before she left to go meet Andrew. Shrugging, she spun her pen around in her fingers and went back to doing her crossword puzzle.

"What did that mean?"

"What did _what_ mean?" She asked, sounding distracted. She needed a six letter word to fit into the empty spaces but couldn't think of one. Damn cryptic clues. She glanced up in time to see Ben mimic her shrug and rolled her eyes. "It means I dunno. I walked past his room earlier, the door was closed. So maybe he's still sleeping." She said with another shrug.

"Still sleepin'? He's worse than you."

"Ben, it's almost noon, I'm awake." Kasey muttered before going back to her puzzle and switching to a different clue. _Nine across; Someone invited into a home, 5 letters._ She was about to fill in the first space when she heard a high pitched and very girlish giggle come from the kitchen's doorway. Snapping her head up at the sound, she found herself staring at a very blonde and very less than half dressed girl. Her sleep tousled hair, the snug almost child sized small Fantastic Five tee that she wore and bare legs gave everything away; she was the reason Johnny's bedroom door was still closed. The girl's face broke into a smile when her blue and still mascara covered eyes landed on Ben; Kasey had a feeling she knew what was coming next.

"Oh my God! You're like...the Thing!" Kasey flinched, it was like nails on a chalk board and she swore she felt her ears abandoning ship. No matter how many times the girls did that, whether they were shrieking at Ben or Reed, Kasey was never truly prepared for that high pitched squeal.

"Not another one." Kasey heard Ben grumble as he trudged toward the counter top and began pulling out the makings for a sandwich.

"Ben, can you make me one, too? And one for our guest?" Kasey asked politely. Ben grinned, she was laying the nice on thick. "A sandwich is all right, right...umh...I didn't get your name."

"Candi."

"Of course it is." She muttered under her breath as she stood and ushered Candi over to a vacant seat around the kitchen table. Dropping back into her seat, Kasey smiled tightly at the girl and tried not to laugh; this was too perfect. Yet another one of Johnny's girls were left to roam around the apartment while he slept off the night before. And the young blonde stumbled right into Kasey, what a great morning this was shaping up to be. Ignoring her guest for a second, Kasey scribbled in a few more words, by the time she filled in the third word she felt a pair of eyes studying her. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Candi watching her and waited, this one she was ready for.

"Oh wow...you're Typhoon!" Kasey flinched again but gave her a smile. "I so love you! I saw the pictures of you from Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman's wedding, your dress...amazing! Who were you wearing? I bet it was Prada, wasn't it? I love Prada!" Listening to her prattle on and on about a job she once held down on Fifth Avenue, Kasey wondered if Hell was anything like this and swore she'd be good for the rest of her life; anything was better than listening to One Night Stand Barbie. "...it must've been Prada. It looked exactly like this dress I sold to an actress once, I'm not one to drop names but it was Cameron Diaz when she was still dating Justin Timberlake, she wore it the next night to a movie premier." Looking to Ben for help, the Thing just gave her a rocky smile before pulling the paper plates out of the cabinet over head.

"It was Chanel." Kasey finally said, hoping to put an end to the torture. The girl's face dropped for a second but only brightened, apparently another thought bubble popped into her head; great. Before she even got a chance to open her mouth, Kasey opened hers. "Sue! We're making lunch! Want anything!" Familiar footsteps followed her shout and a beat later, Sue padded into the kitchen.

"I can make myself some...who's this?" Sue asked, a smile much like the one Kasey wore earlier flew onto her lips.

"Johnny's _friend _Candi. Candi this is..."

"Sue Storm, the Invisible Woman, Johnny's older sister and Reed Richard's fiancée. You used to date Victor Von Doom and worked for him, as head of his genetic reseach department. Your powers are usually based off of your emotions and you can make force fields. I know all about you!" Candi squealed, Kasey flinched and Sue just smiled brighter. "You two girls are so my favorites! Girl superheros! I always wanted to be one."

"I can't see why you're not one, I mean we're always taking applications. I could see it now, Boob Girl to the rescue." Kasey muttered, standing up and walking toward the fridge, not before brushing past Sue and hissing _'Save me!'_ into her ear. While rooting around in the fridge to find a bottle of water, Sue slid into her seat around the table and continued to smile at Candi.

"How do you know all of things about me?"

"Fan sites of course, all of you guys have Wikipedia pages." Kasey nearly choked on her water as Ben handed her a plate; just great, one of Johnny's girls happened to be a full fledged fan girl...lovely.

"What do you know about Kasey?" Sue asked, eyeing her best friend with a curious glare.

Kasey mouthed to her as she sat back down, this time Ben joining them at the table. 

"Kasey Winters or Typhoon. You used to be astrology…"

"Astronomy. Astrology is your horoscope and the zodiac." Kasey corrected, picking the crust off her sandwich.

"…teacher at Brown before Reed asked you to tag along with him and Ben to check out that cloud. You can manipulate water and even fly thanks to it, I've seen you do that once. So cool, by the way. What else? The reporters usually get pictures of you out shopping down in the Village and you dated Johnny once."

"How do they know all of that?" Sue asked; there were only a few people who actually knew about Kasey and Johnny and she was one of the three.

"Know all of what?" Reed's voice startled all of them as he breezed into the kitchen, not even noticing the other blonde sitting with there. With their eyes on his back, Reed went about doing whatever it was he was doing, most likely making himself something to eat. With one arm reaching up to grab a glass out of the cabinet, the other stretched out to get something from the pantry; Candi was amazed.

"Oh wow…so is it true? Can you stretch any part of your anatomy?" Upon hearing the new voice, Reed twisted around and looked at her. Reed smiled warmly at her and made the introductions; the only one of them to actually take the time and do so.

"And that question never gets old." Reed joked with their guest as he went back to doing what he had started.

"And you never give them an honest answer, I say next time someone should ask Susie." Ben muttered around a chunk of sandwich.

"Ben!" Sue scolded; turning a lovely shade of red as Kasey nearly fell out of her chair laughing, tears welling up in her eyes. Reed, instead of answering, just cleared his throat and ignored it. While Candi talked with Reed, like a fan she actually was, Kasey turned to Ben and showed him her finally finished puzzle.

"Look Ben, Johnny's friend helped me finish up." She said, her painted black finger nail underlining Nine Across, the one about someone invited into a home. In Kasey's neat handwriting, the word _skank _gleamed up at the Thing and both bit back a laugh.

"It does fit, Drip."

"That it does." Their conversation ended when Reed sat down next to Ben; his eyes landing on Kasey.

"Kase?"

"Uh-huh?"

"Last night, when everyone had gone out…"

"And you lost yourself in the lab."

"That too. What was all that screaming I heard? I meant to ask you, but when I came into the living room, Johnny said you went out."

"Oh, that was me and Johnny. We were screwing around before I got ready for my date." She said with a shrug.

"What were you two doing?" Reed asked in what both Kasey and Johnny called the dad tone.

"Just messing around, he touched me, I touched him." Candi's eyes went wider than they naturally were for a second and Kase smiled; she said what she did on purpose.

"You didn't!"

"It was only for a few minutes and then we touched again and everything was fine. No worries, I'm fine."

"What exactly did you and John-John do?" Hearing the newest pet name, Ben choked on a laugh and tried to keep from smiling as Sue's eyes pierced into him. Clearing her throat, Kasey looked at her and hid her grin.

"We were just fooling around, nothing big. It happens all the time. Reed, can you pass me the salt?"

Soon they settled into their afternoon routine, even with Candi's overly blonde presence hanging around them, the four made small talk and caught up on the night before. The simplicity of lunch ended when Candi scraped her chair against the tiled kitchen floor and scampered over to the doorway, throwing her tanned arms around Johnny's neck. Johnny appeared out of thin air, not making a sound as he snuck up on all of them. Looking up at him, Kasey beamed brightly; his eyes were still barely half opened, yawns kept escaping him and he hardly looked suitable for the land of the living.

"Good morning Sunshine." Kasey chirped as she got up. "Late night huh?"

"Shut up Kase."

"Glad to see you too. Thanks for the sandwich Ben, nice meeting you Candi. Always a pleasure to meet such a lovely young woman as yourself. But I have to get going."

"Where are you going Kase? Just stay with us for a little while longer." Sue pleaded, looking at her best friend.

"Can't Susie, gonna mess up the male to female ratio. I'm gonna go out for a run, I'll be back soon. Wakey-wakey Johnny." She cooed, hitting him with a blast of cold water that erupted from her palm, sending Candi into a squeal of giggles, before slipping out of the kitchen.

As promised, an hour later Kasey stumbled back in. Whenever she said she was going out for a run, the run became more like a dash to keep away from the photographers trying to catch a candid glimpse of her instead of something she did daily to keep in shape. Her uniform was tight as is, she needed to fit into it. Padding into the living room, cool water dribbling down from her hair line in hopes to cool herself down some, Kasey found Johnny sitting on the couch idly flipping through the channels.

"Hey Sunshine."

"Don't call me that."

"Whatever you say, _John-John._"

"Or that." Giggling, she dropped down next to him and scooped the remote out of his hand and after punching a few numbers, a soap opera came on. "Turn it off."

"Nope. My turn to watch TV." The two sat in an awkward silence for a few minutes, the only sound coming from the hyped up drama on the screen. "So…where's Sue?"

"With Reed."

"Reed?"

"Lab, working on something to cure me." He said with a roll of his eyes.

"Ben?"

"With Alicia."

"Alicia?"

"In Ben's room, with Ben."

"Wouldn't have just been easier to say that they were in his room at the same time?"

"Where's the fun in that."

"Ass."

"I know."

"Candi?"

"Left."

"Oh. She was…cute."

"You're being nice."

"New Year's Resolution; be nicer to Johnny's snaky girlfriends."

"Nice Kasey, real nice."

"I know. So...what exactly are Reed and Sue doing?"

"More tests, trying to figure out how you guys can get close to me without catching it." Shaking her head, Kasey reached her hand out to stroke his face, but stopped short. She didn't want a repeat of the night before and didn't have her uniform on; just because Johnny had seen her naked didn't mean he needed a repeat performance. "I saw that Kase."

"Shut up, I can fix it."

"If Reed can't, what makes you think you can?"

"Reed can only stretch himself too thin, he can't do this." She said, focusing on her right hand and watched it freeze over with a layer of ice an inch thick. Running her fingers down his cheek, Kasey laughed when Johnny jumped at the cold touch.

"Christ Kase! That's cold!"

"Cold or not, as long as you don't turn up the heat, I can touch you." A sly grin appeared on his face and Kasey knew exactly where he was going to go. Opening her mouth again, she stopped him before he could even form a sentence. "Have you talked to Ben about what you 'overheard' last night?"

"Not yet, I should tell him though, right?"

"He's apart of the team, as far as I'm concerned he needs to know."

"So we tell him?"

"No, you tell him and I stand in the doorway looking concerned." She said with a flick of her wrist, the ice vanished and left her skin a little blue. "Now, c'mon. Get up."

Walking down the hall to Ben's room, Johnny turned back to Kasey and smiled at her. She thought she was clever by cutting him off, but she wasn't as clever as she thought. Sliding up to her, as close as he could get without a block of ice dividing them, Johnny leaned over and whispered into her ear.

"I always knew you wanted to."

"Wanted to what, Sunshine?" Kasey asked, looking at him out of the corner of her eye.

"Touch me and now with those pretty little powers of yours, you can. All you want."

"All I want? Huh. Interesting." She purred, tapping her finger to her bottom lip. "Guess you figured me out huh, John-John? I, like millions of other women, fantasize about touching you. Daily, in fact. While I'm out jogging, making my bed and even sometimes when I'm shaving my legs."

"I knew it!"

"But, I unlike the masses of fangirls you have acquired, dream of touching you in another way." Kasey said seductively, arching an eye brow.

"Oh yeah, how? Like you used to when we dated?"

"You mean those two weeks of my life that I wasted with you in Miami?"

"Yeah, those two weeks."

"No, not like that. I dream of kicking your flame retardant ass down the hall and back again until I feel happy on the inside." She told him seriously as she raised her hand to knock on Ben's bedroom door.

"You don't mean that Kase."

"Yes I do. Ben, it's me, can I come in?"

"Yeah Drip!" Ben called, his voice muffled due to the door.

"You heard him Matchstick, get moving." She mumbled, her hand icing over again. As Johnny walked past her, Kasey reached out and slapped him hard on the ass. She didn't know if he jumped from the cold shock to his system or from the fact that she actually did it.

"Kasey!" He nearly shrieked as he snapped around to look at her.

"Johnny!" She mimicked, shaking her head as the two of them walked into Ben's room to talk to him and Alicia.


	6. Cuz Breaking Up is Hard to Do

**Hey guys! Sorry this chapter took a little longer than the others, just everything got piled up on top of me and I'm slowly, starting to work my way out of it. OK, onto the story. This is probably the longest chapter I've written so far. There's a lot going on, but I think I did it all right. I'm working on a new chapter as we speak, since I left everyone in a bit of a lurch. But if you saw the movie, you know what's coming next. Before I let you guys get into the chapter, I need your opinons on an upcoming pairing or two. So, a quick little poll:  
**  
**A. Johnny/Kasey.  
B.Kasey/OC_(not the guy mentioned in the first half of this chapter, he's a jerk and will stay a jerk)_  
C.Johnny/Frankie. **

**I'm still not sure if I want Johnny/Kasey together. So let me know what you all think. I'd love to see what you guys say. Another little quick thing, more Kasey flashbacks? Yes? No? Let me know. OK, shutting up now. I hope you all like this. Keep reading and reviewing. --B.E**

**Chapter Five- 'Cuz Breaking Up is Hard to Do**

The water that streamed down from the faucet pooled in her cupped palms and gently, she poked at it with her mind. Soon the water shot up, sprouting up from her skin like a fountain and pulsed with life. Smiling to herself, Kasey remembered when doing the dishes was less than enjoyable. Her skin no longer pruned if she kept them submerged in the soapy depths for too long and even with the coldest water pouring into the basin, she could never feel it. Hot water, there was the exception, but everything had at least one exception. Feeling a hand on her hip, Kasey jumped, her fountain crashed and then the rest of the water followed, falling into the clouds of soap and dishes. Looking up at the owner of the hand, the owner of the dishes as well, she smiled at him as she grabbed a towel off the counter. Her hands were bone dry but the soap suds still clung to her skin.

"Yes, Andrew?"

"You don't have to do that, you know."

"I know, but you cooked, saving yourself from food poisioning might I point out; I can at least wash the dishes. And besides, its makes me feel usefull. Johnny and I aren't allowed in the kitchen at home." Andrew laughed, his deep brown eyes sparkling at the thought of Typhoon and the Human Torch banned from the kitchen.

"Does Sue put up a force field or something?"

"She tried...once but we still got in. Ahh...The Great Kitchen Battle of December 06. Good times, good times." Kasey reminisced, her tone obviously sarcastic.

"So she banned you guys because you fight?" He asked, leaning casually against the corner of the counter top, the glass of wine he had brought with him from the table back in hand and took a long sip.

"We fight...a lot actually. He throws something, I throw it back. He calls me a name, I call him something worse. He tries to throw a fire ball at me, he misses and I hit him square in the face with a water bomb. Never a dull moment at the Baxter, very exciting." She said, with a phony dreamy eyed look in her eyes.

"But you guys did date, right?" Looking at him again, she cocked a dark eye brow and wondered; _why's he asking me that?_ There were only a select few that new the dark, gory details of the three month edition of "The Kasey and Johnny Show." Sue didn't really count, niether did Ben and Reed, but outside of them, Kasey's 'normal' best friend Roxi, Roxi's fiance Grady and of course the girl Kasey caught Johnny with, AKA the reason they broke up. Oh yeah and that Candi fan girl who stumbled into the kitchen earlier that day.

"Yeah, we did. Why? Why are you asking me?" She asked, running a hand through her hair.

"No reason, just wanted to get my facts straight. C'mon, I rented a movie."

"Which one?"

"Come into the living room and find out." He said playfully, dragging her by the wrist. Kasey smiled. Being around someone who didn't burst into flames or was freaking out over what China patern went with yellow lilies was great. She hadn't felt so relaxed in a while. Dropping down onto the couch next to Andrew, she noticed a new bottle of champagne chilling in a bucket of ice on the coffee table with two glass flutes next to it, and a stack of DVDs he had rented.

"I thought you said 'a movie'?"

"I lied." Andrew said with a shrug and a smile. "Pick one." Resting her elbows on the table top, Kasey rifeled through the pile; _The Departed, Underworld _and _Breach._ Taking _Underworld _out of the stack, she tossed the case into Andrew's and nodded toward the DVD player.

"You can't put it in?" He teased.

"Andy, not my house, not my job." She said simply, a grin on her face. Watching him getting up off the couch, Kasey sank back into the cushions and was half way to almost just right comfortable when she felt her cell phone vibrate against her hip. Rolling her eyes, she pulled it out of her pocket and looked at the display; _Johnny. _Flipping it open, she brought the phone to her ear.

"It better be good Matchstick, I'm on a date." She growled into the reciever.

"Where are you, exactly?"

"On a date! Are you deaf? What happened, all the cheering and God awful fangirl squeals finally burst your ear drums?"

"Haha, very funny. No seriously, where are you?"

"Over on Central Park West, why?" She said, as Andrew turned to look at her, an eye brow cocked. Her long index finger shot up, telling him one minute, and then snuck out onto his small balcony that came off the kitchen. "Johnny, why? You haven't answered me."

"Reed says you need to come home, like now."

"Like why?" She snapped. She'd be damned if Reed or Johnny were going to ruin her evening. This wasn't the first time and she knew, ever since she discovered the whole water/ice/super powers thing, dates were a thing of the past.

--K--

Hearing her conversation, Andrew looked up from the DVD player and cocked an eye brow at her. What was going on? She had said 'Matchstick', she was obviously talking to the Human Torch. Taking a deep breath, before the vein in his forehead started to throb and his nostrils flared, Andrew glanced at her and mouthed 'what's wrong?' Kasey just stuck up her thin index finger as she slipped out of the living room, her hand covering her cell phone as she went.

"Damnit!" He cursed, slamming his hand into the top of the entertainment center.

--K--

"Johnny, what's going on?" Kasey asked, once she was in the kitchen and far enough away so Andrew wouldn't over hear their conversation.

"Its about the Surfer." Johnny's tone said it all and somewhere, deep down, she knew she had to get home as fast as she could.

"I'm on my way. Tell Reed, I'll be there in like ten minutes, fifteen at most."

"All right. Just get here soon, huh?"

"I promise Johnny." She said softly, not liking his tone. "Don't worry so much about me huh? I'm a big girl, I can walk home in the dark." Johnny laughed.

"Like anyone would want to mug someone who looked like you."

"I'm too pretty, that's all. They know, can't mess up my pretty face." The jokes were just a way to pass the time and try not to think that whatever Reed needed them for was very serious. "Okay, I'm leaving. I'll be home soon."

"See ya."

"Yeah." The line went dead before she could even get the last of the 'H' out. Slipping the phone back into her pocket, Kasey scrubbed a hand over her face and took a deep breath. "Okay. One, Two, Three, Four...all right." After pinching the bridge of her nose with her thumb and index finger, she walked out of the kitchen and found Andrew sitting on the couch, obviously waiting for her to come back.

"Everything okay Kase?"

"No. I gotta go."

"What? Why?"

"Duty calls. I'll talk to you later." She said, grabbing her thin denim jacket and purse.

"Kase...c'mon. This can't keep happening."

"Its my job." Leaning over, she pressed a quick kiss onto his cheek and then headed for the door. "I promise, I'll call."

"Does this have to do with Johnny?" Andrew called just as she opened the door. Turning around, she spun so fast that her hair snapped against her cheek, Kasey's blue eyes narrowed in.

"What has to do with Johnny?"

"You leaving like this, he called you. Is there something going on between you two?"

"Are you kidding! There hasn't been anything going on between us in years! Are you serious? You've got to be kidding me right? You're jealous of Johnny!" Kasey shouted, almost laughing.

"Damn right I am! You're with him constantly..."

"I live with him! I've known him since I was seventeen! Are you fucking kidding me?"

"No I'm not." He shouted back at her as he made his way toward her. "I don't like you with him."

"And I don't care what you think!" Andrew was all of a sudden way too close for Kasey's comfort, he was right in her face and out of the corner of her eye, she watched his hand reach up to grip her shoulders. His fingers dug into her skin and she had a feeling the shaking was going to come next. Before he could even think of shaking her at all, Kasey began doing something she rarely did. She felt it happen before it even started; she was melting away. Not in that Wicked Witch type of melting, but her body was actually breaking down; muscle, organs, bone, denim, silk and leather all together. Andrew's surprised yelp and the two steps he took back, jumping away from the puddle Kasey had become and gave her enough room to wriggle out under the crack between the door and the floor. Out in the hallway, she found another crack between two floor boards and slunk down nine floors between the original hardwood and carpet to the apartment building's lobby, where she wiggled and slid until she reached the ladies' bathroom. A moment later, on the cool tile floor, her body literally pulled itself back together and out of the puddle up shot Kasey. Ruffling her hair and straightening her jacket, she took another quick glance at her appearance before walking out.

"I hate doing that." She mumbled as the night guard wished her a good night. Shaking again, she made her way down the sidewalk and hurried toward Times Square. The faster she got to the Baxter Building, the faster she could dive into whatever Reed needed her to be there for and put Andrew behind her. Moving through the throngs of people that filled the streets, Kasey slowly made her way into Times Square and once there, looked up toward the Baxter building. The lights in the lab shown like a beacon and without even caring that she was surrounded by half the city's night life, Kasey urged the water again, this time pushing out and felt herself rising off the ground.

"Oh my God! It's Typhoon!" The crowd gasped, some cheered while others applauded at the spectual. Ignoring them, the ground disappeared below her feet and within a few seconds, she was perched on the edge of the roof top patio. Dropping down onto the concrete slabs, her black Converse high tops slapped against the warm cement as she padded toward the doors.

"Kasey? Is that you?" Reed's voice sounded rushed, anxious and somewhat nervous.

"Yeah, I'm home."

"How'd you..." He asked, stepping into her line of sight as she came into the living room.

"Flew. So what's going on? Johnny called saying I had to get home right away. What's up?" She asked, pushing back her somewhat damp hair.

"I have to show you something in the lab." Following Reed like a slighlty wet puppy, Kasey made her way to the lab and found the others, along with General Hager and Captain Raye standing there with their troop of body guards. Kasey walked in just in time to see Johnny make another pass at the Captain, who again shot him down. Laughing, she nudged Sue in the ribs and smiled.

"How was your date?"

"Horrible, I'll tell ya later." She whispered to her as Reed and General Hager began talking.

"All right, everyone's here now. So what's the emergency Richards?" The general demanded as he shot Kasey a cold glare.

"I've been cross-referencing the Sufer's radiation through every astronomical datebase." Reed said as he looked up quickly from his computer and then began scrolling through all of the satelite images he had collected. In each picture, Kasey saw what looked to be dead planets littering other solar systems, some weren't too far from Earth. "Altair Seven. Rigel Three...Vega Six."

"He's been to all of those planets?" Ben asked, sounding stunned, Reed nodded.

"And now they're lifeless, barren. No atmosphere, no thermal activity, nothing. Wherever the Sufer goes, eight days later the planet dies."

Kasey began mentally ticking off days, going through the events of what had happened in the past week. Slowly, it all dawned on her, they didn't have that many days left.

"Six! He's been here six days!" Kasey almost yelled, her loud outburst recieved an annoyed stare from Captain Raye.

"So wait, if we don't stop him in the next forty-eight hours, there will be nothing left alive?" Johnny asked, sounding as if he had finally caught on. Again, Reed only nodded. No one said anything for a few seconds, they just stared.

"Get me the White House." General Hager barked and with just a curt nod, Captain Raye whipped out her cell phone and began dialing.

"But how do we find him?" Kasey asked. "We don't even know where to find him." Reed was back at the computer, scrolling through more pages of information.

"The Surfer's craters are marked with those blinking dots."

"The craters?" Sue asked, looking at her fiance.

"They seem random, but there's something about them...Kasey, excuse me." Reed asked politely and almost not so nicely, shoved her out of his way. Watching him type and punch more information into the computer, she meerly cocked an eye brow and turned to Sue, who just shrugged in return. Ben watched on with curosity and Johnny, who still looked bored out of his skull, just stared at anything, mainly sending not so secret glances at Captain Raye.

"It's the Catalan number sequence, modulo three-sixty." Reed spoke up finally, breaking the silence that had hung around them.

"I don't follow." General Hager said, looking just as confused as everyone else.

"The craters..." Reed started to explain, "...aren't random. They're appearing in numeralic sequence."

"It means, you can predict where the next one will appear." Sue said, sounding as if everything Reed had said made perfect sense. Captain Raye mumbled something to the General, something about having whoever he needed to talk to on the line; he brushed her away as Reed finished putting in the new information. Kasey watched the data Reed typed in and felt something sink within her, whenever this new location was found, she knew they were heading straight there. Duty calls.

"Latitude: fifty-one degrees, twenty-five minutes north. Longitude: zero degrees, five minutes west." As Reed read off the location, out of the corner of her eye, Kasey saw Johnny's face fall. It didn't take a former pilot to know exactly where they were going; Kasey knew.

"Well, where are we going? Where will the next crater pop up?" Hager snapped and then the map completely formed in her head.

"London. We're going to London." She said softly, before spinning on her heel and walking out. Kasey had friends in London, fellow scholars she had worked with when she was still a student and an ex-boyfriend over there. As she walked to her bedroom, she could hear Sue following her.

"Kasey! Kasey!" She shouted as the brunette slipped into her room. Walking in behind her, she watched as Kasey yanked open her closet door and started pulling down her small duffle bag, to fill with clothes. "What are you doing?"

"Packing. If we're going to London, I'll need clothes." She had a point. Dropping down onto the bed, Sue watched her throw several pair of jeans, some shirts, shoes and a thickly lined hoodie into the bag. "What's wrong?"

"London. That's what's wrong. And tonight with Andrew."

"What happened with Andrew?" Sue asked and Kasey told her all about their evening and how it went down hill after Johnny called. "...he's jealous of Johnny?"

"I think so. And then when I went to leave, he grabbed me. I melted and got out of there. Then came home. Whether I said it or not, we're over."

"Kase..." Sue started, as she looked for the right words. "...he doesn't understand. This is your job."

"I know it is." The duffle bag was zipped shut. "And now, London. Christ, I have friends there. I lived there for a year. Sophia, Mikayla, Jordan and Damien are there. Do you get that?"

"Yes I do. They're people you care about." Sue said softly, remembering all about the sweet English artist Kasey had fallen in love with when she was over there. "When we get there, just find them. Especially Damien. Explain everything to them."

A dark thought worked its way across her mind, _explain everything to them, _Sue and Reed sure as hel weren't explaining everything to her, Ben or Johnny. If it hadn't been for Johnny, they wouldn't know that the team was going to break up. Smirking, Kasey dropped the bag roughly onto the floor.

"Yeah, explain."

----

Kasey rested her head against the cool glass window and looked down at the water below them. The military helicopter was hovering over the Thames River now. Kasey couldn't keep her eyes off of the dark water below them, she was transfixed. It was beautiful and if the Surfer came here, it would be destoryed. Built up next to the river was the Millennium Wheel. Each car that hung down off the wheel held around thirty people and stood somewhere around four hundred feet in the air. If the Surfer appeared around the area they were flying closer to with each passing second: the Milennium Wheel, Jubilee Gardens and the County Hall, the damage would be astromonical.

She could hear Reed and the General bickering. Shaking her head, she went back to staring; fighting wasn't going to do anything now. She picked up the conversation though, Hager was complaining about not having his men along for the trip and Reed said this was what they did. Yeah, fighting silver covered men was in Kasey's job disciption. Of course, Hager had to have the last word, saying something along the lines that if Reed was wrong, they wouldn't be doing anything. Down below, the water started churning and Kasey did a double take before driving an elbow into Ben's rocky side. The Thing peered over her shoulder and took a deep breath.

"I don't think you've got to worry about that." He mumbled as the water started chruning faster. Once the circle of water was around the size of one of the Surfer's carters, light and humming energy erupted from it. Kasey's stomach flipped as the helicopter began to lower, getting closer to the ground with each rotation of the blades.

"General, we need to clear these people out of here." Reed said, nodding toward all of people that had lined the river bank, staring at the soon to be crater.

"I'm already on it, Richards." He said shortly. "And don't tell me how to do my job."

"Seriously, we don't have time for this crap. People are going to die if you don't do something soon." Kasey snapped, looking at the general. "All right? So, don't tell us how to do our job." Hager nearly snarled at her. A beat later, the heilcopter landed near the Milennium Wheel, Kasey was one of the first to jump out onto solid ground.

"If he surfaces soon, we've got to move the fight away from the crowd." Reed said, trying to bring the focus back onto the matter at hand, not the tenison that filled their small group.

"He's too fast for that. The second I see silver, I'm hitting him." Johnny said as he started to walk toward the water. Kasey went too, not to keep Johnny in check, but to see the water. The power was drawing her closer, the hum was beginning to fill her ears. Power drew in power, like to like. She could feel the water her own body held start to hum along, whatever the Surfer was giving off, she was beginning to like. _"NO!" _The voice in the back of her head snapped and turned back toward the helicopter.

"I agree with Johnny. He's too powerful to wait for, first sight I say we attack."

"You two are too headstrong! You can't just go out there and fight him. You can't! We've got to stick to the plan and work as a team." The moment Reed said 'team', Kasey knew what was going to happen. She looked to Sue before taking her place near Johnny, he was going to open his mouth, she could feel it in her bones.

"Oh, we're a team still? Huh, that's news to me!"

"What are you talking about?" Reed asked.

"You know what he's talking about." Kasey said, looking right at him. But he showed no sign of knowing. Sue on the other hand, did. Her expression gave everything away. "You know." She sneered.

"Kasey, Johnny, now isn't the time." Sue scolded, trying to bring the on coming argeument to an end before it even really began.

"The kids have a point." Ben spoke up, stepping forward for the first time. "You should've told us Reed."

The Julibee Gardens, where the pilot had landed the helicopter, was now filled with five voices, each shouting their own point across. Johnny let everyone know that he had overheard Reed and Sue and was a little less than thrilled about what they had decided, what had been decided without the other three knowing. Kasey shouted too, she wasn't ready to loose another family. The arguement was drawn to an abrupt close when General Hager pushed his way in between the divided team; Reed and Sue on one side and then Ben, Johnny and Kasey on the other.

"What the hell is wrong with you people?!" He shouted.

"Stay out of this! This is none of your fuc..." Kasey's voice died as a loud boom filled the area. Together, the five of them raced over to the cast iron fence that divided the sidewalk from the Thames' bank, just in time to see the Surfer burst from the water.

"Holy shit." Kasey mumbled as ice cold water erupted and covered every inch of her body.


	7. Another Fantastic Disaster

**Hey guys!! Eleven reviews! Wow! I'm glad you all liked it; I must be doing something right. And thanks to everyone who answered my mini-poll. Results are in and have been tallied up by our judges:**

**A. Johnny/Kasey: total-4  
**_**Elenamindollin**_

_**Jazmin2224**_

_**Supernatural Sweeties**_

_**Galita**_

**B. Kasey/OC: total-1**

_**Katsy338(only to make Johnny jealous)**_

**C. Johnny/Frankie: total-1**

_**Glynnis007**_

**D. Kasey/Surfer: total-2**

_**Gothic-Fire-Wolf**_

_**Glynnis007**_

**I didn't even think of Kasey and the Silver Surfer. I love it! So, I'm going to choose...you're gonna have to wait. But that doesn't mean I don't want to stop hearing what y'all have to say on this issue, please keep letting me know. And for the flashbacks, I agree with Jazmin2224, as long as they're needed and don't slow up the story. Thanks guys so much! I didn't expect all of that feedback. So, this chapter is dedicated to my "voters" as a Thank-You. Quick note, I don't remember exactly how this scene went in the movie, so I'm going off the book. Just a heads up in case something seems a little weird. Something else, whenever Kasey "turns" into Typhoon, I've been trying to come up with how she might look and until I actually get that penned down, just think Johnny but of course with curves to fill out that skin tight uniform and instead of flames, its waves. I'm trying guys, I'm trying. haha. Anyways, hope you guys like this one, keep reading and reviewing.--B.E**

* * *

**Chapter Six-Another Fantastic Disaster**

Lurching up off the ground, Kasey felt her powers switch on--she wondered if Johnny felt his do that too--and streaked up into the sky. Johnny flared up next to her and winked playfully at her; in times like theses, emergencies of any sort, the two youngest members of the Fantastic Five had no problem putting their powers on display and sometimes showing off a little too much for Reed and Sue's liking. The two split up as they got closer to the Millennium Wheel; Johnny veered one way while Kasey rocketed straight for the metal structure. Speeding toward one of the giant wheel's dangling cars, Kasey gripped one of the glass doors and yanked it open; scared tourists looked back at her.

"Don't worry. Everything'll be fine. I'm gonna get you all out of..." But her words were cut off by some force; a shock wave that had been created by the Silver Surfer coming up out of the water, hit the wheel. It swayed dangerously one way and sent Kasey spiraling the other. A shriek tore from her lips as she fell, her own rushing waters had melted away from her and then the shriek grew louder as the glass from the cars above rained down on her. Looking down, she saw just how close the ground was getting and willed her powers to snap back. But she knew since she was panicking, that nothing was going to work.

"C'mon! C'mon! C'mon!" The ground was getting closer still. "C'mon! Oh hell! Wave On!" She shrieked, a bad imitation of Johnny: yes, but also as a last ditch effort. "C'mon!"

A sudden jerk caused her screams to stop, seeing as the air had been driven out of her lungs, and slowly, she realized that she too had stopped. Looking beneath her, she found herself perched safely on a large flesh colored mat. It took a second, but it finally clicked; Reed. She was sitting in Reed's greatly stretched-to-its-limits hand, like a giant baseball glove. Lowering to the ground, Kasey slid out of his palm and looked toward Mr. Fantastic.

"Thanks."

"You have to get back up there Kasey! We need to get those people." Nodding, her eyes flicked up toward the wheel and gulped. It was teetering, the heavy frames of the wheel was beginning to tip, tilting toward the water. Screams filled her ears; the people in the cars. A cold rush trickled down her spine and suddenly, her body was encased in icy liquid again. Just as she was about to take off, to go for the wheel again, she noticed that it had stopped shaking.

"Sue..." Kasey breathed, before jetting off toward the pier. Sue stood on one side, arms out stretched and struggled to keep the wheel up with one force field. Standing opposite her friend; the soles of her boots just barely touching the churning water of the Thames, she mirrored Sue's stance and with the water below her as an extra boost, focused on the wheel. Two jets of water erupted from her palms and struck Sue's force field head on.

"Sue! Pull it back, I'll push forward!" Even though Sue agreed, Kasey saw the familiar trickle of blood drip down from the Invisible Woman's nose. Despite her strongest efforts, Kasey could almost feel Sue fading, slowly there was less and less resistance against her pulsing jets of water.

"Ben! Quick!" Reed shouted as he stretched his arms out, wrapping them around the wheel and then weaving them in and out of the steel spokes. Ben tugged one way while Reed pulled along with him and Kasey pushed against the two. Her deep blue eyes caught the grimace on Reed's face, something was starting to hurt. Before she could say anything or ask him how she could help more, something hot whizzed past her face. Johnny. Looking up, she watched him zigzagged toward one of the people who had slid out of one of the cars. The man was hanging from the opened door. She knew Johnny had the right intentions, but somehow, a cold coil of dread wound itself around her insides.

"Hang on!" Johnny shouted as he got closer to the man. Pouring more power into the waters, the dread in Kasey rose up into her throat. Watching him, her eyes widen in realization as she realized what was about to happen.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no." She mumbled. "Reed! Johnny! Reed, watch out!" She yelled, but no one seemed to listen to her. Johnny was reaching out to grab the man and somehow managed to brush against Reed's outstretched arm.

"No!" The members of the Fantastic Five who were on the ground screamed, but it was too late. A beat later, after a flash of brilliant light disappeared, Reed fell to the ground, lighting the grass on fire and the wheel began to tip again. Both Ben and Kasey let go as well, knowing neither of them could hold it without the help from Mr. Fantastic, and looked up just in time to see Johnny flop uselessly over the wheel in a tangle to too long limbs. And almost forgotten until his scream tore through the air, the man Johnny had tried to save had lost his grip and started to fall.

"Drip! Can ya..." Ben yelled to her from the opposite side of the wheel.

"I'll kill him, he'll either drown or slam into a wall of ice. I can't...but Sue! Sue!" Kasey shouted and a few feet away, Sue nodded. The man's rapid descent was cut short due to one of Sue's disc like force fields and gently placed him on the ground. Strengthening the water beneath her feet, just enough to hold her up on the slow churning surface, Kasey ran across the water and then jumped back up onto the pier just in time to watch Sue turn her attention back on the wheel. The blonde was trying to right the wheel without any help and only her powers alone. The wheel teetered and rocked several more times, one time it even forced Sue to hover out over the water. Kasey stood there, mouth hanging open a little and gaped at her friend; Sue was stronger than she or the rest of the team gave her credit for. Once the wheel was finally back in place and Ben was busy setting the structure underneath back to the way it was, Kasey, tired of feeling like she wasn't doing anything, zigzagged back up into the air. She needed to do something. Reaching one of the lower cars, she tugged on the door until the hinges whined and opened. Curled in the far corner sat a small group of people, right in the middle was a small boy with tears streaking down his face.

"Hey, no crying kid. I'm gonna get you outta here. And when we get down, you can meet the rest of the Fantastic Five? How does that sound?" She asked, trying to sound as calm as she could. He was looking at her like she was insane and he had every right to; there was a twenty-two year old woman floating in front of him covered in water, being held in the air by pulsing blue waves, of course he was going to look at her like that. He reminded her of the little girl on the bridge that day back when she first got her powers; the water just kept coming and coming and the girl just kept screaming. "Stop crying. I know you're scared, but there's nothing to be scared of anymore." She said softly and reached out for him. Kneeling into the car, she stretched her hand out and wrapped her finger tips around his.

"You can fly, right? We're not going to fall are we?" He asked in a small voice. He must've been on vacation, he didn't sound like he was from London. "We're not, right?"

"No we're not. I'm gonna take you down first and then come back for everyone else. Just until Ben gets the wheel working again. I'm Kasey."

"James."

"All right James, you gotta be brave now. Hang on." The other people in the car, mostly adults, watched as Kasey crawled back out with James in her arms and then streaked off toward the ground. The little boy whooped as Kasey hovered just above the ground, her feet touching down softly a second later. "See, no falling."

"That was so cool!"

"Glad you approve. Now, I want you to get out of the way and go sit over by that police officer. You'll be safe." James nodded and did as he was told. Standing by the police cars, he watched as Typhoon emptied out the rest of what had been his car and as the last passenger was brought down, the wheel was finally back in place. Instead of streaking back up to get more people from other still dangling cars, Kasey's eyes flicked over to where Sue had been standing and gasped. The Invisible Woman was slowly sinking to the ground. Kasey rushed over to grab her before she hit the ground. Letting her lean against her side, Kasey shook her head as she wiped away the blood that was dripping slowly from her nose with her gloved thumb. Sue was exhausted, out of energy and pushed to her limits. The brilliant light flared again, apparently both men had figured out how to get themselves around safely and finally switched back. Once Reed was Mr. Fantastic again and not lighting things on fire, Kasey gently moved Sue over to his waiting arms and took her place standing next to Johnny.

"Just stay back!" For a second Kasey thought Reed was yelling at her. "Just stay back! You're going to get someone killed!!" Reed shouted as Johnny reached for Sue. Kasey took a deep breath as her eyes danced between both of them. Seeing the pain in Johnny's eyes, Kasey watched as he walked away from Reed and Sue. Gently, she pushed past Ben and raced to catch up with.

"Johnny! Johnny...c'mon. C'mon, talk to me." She pleaded softly. "Reed is just being Reed. C'mon Johnny, just talk to me. Hell, at least look at me!" With the thick material of her gloves protecting her skin from direct contact with Johnny's, she wrapped her hand around his elbow and squeezed. The gloves weren't meant for Johnny, they were meant to keep her hands from freezing together while playing 'superhero.' She learned the hard way what happened to her hands if she didn't wear them.

"Kase...look." Johnny whispered, ignoring her previous pleas. "Look."

Rolling her eyes, she did as he said and looked out onto the river. But there was nothing to look at; just an empty riverbed with a large silver crater in the center. The water she had only a few minutes before ran across was gone, everything. It was as if the Surfer had dried it up when he arrived.

"Oh God." She mumbled as she raced toward the fence that divided the sidewalk from the river. Vaulting over it, her boots absorbed the shock of her landing and numbly, she walked around on the dried cracked earth.

"Kasey, can you...ya know...fix it?" Johnny asked, his own fingers curling around the fence. Dropping down to her knees and tugging off one of her gloves, Kasey flattened her palm out on the ground. Closing her eyes, she focused and tried to pull any source of water left below. In her mind, she heard the earth groan in protest but no water came forth. Instead of water, Kasey felt a surge of power; warm and inviting power. It sang through her veins and behind her eye lids erupted a blast of silver light. The light was so bright it nearly blinded her and sent her flying onto her backside. Her eyes opened with a snap and over head was the sky. The hum from the power still echoed throughout her, bouncing around inside her mind and even thought she knew it was residue left over from the Surfer, she couldn't help herself. She was drawn to it.

Blinking up at Johnny, she put her glove back on and walked back the same way she had come. Leaping back over the fence, she stood next to the Human Torch and ran a shaky hand through her hair before speaking.

"No Johnny, I can't fix it. I don't know how to."


	8. Ice and Ash

**Chapter Seven- Ice and Ash**

Kasey dropped down into one of the plush folding chairs in what was normally used to hold an audience in the United States Embassy building and propped her boot covered feet up onto the top of the seat in front of her. Every muscle in her body screamed at her, all she wanted to do was relax. But things like that didn't happen when you wrote "superhero" down as your current occupation on your résumé. She was still in uniform; her gloves were folded neatly in her lap, and her hair that had been tumbling down her back was now in a loose bun at the base of her neck. She had barely had time to put her hair up and wash her face before her and the others were dragged down here; apparently the General wanted to see them.

"Wonder what that jackass wants now." Kasey mumbled as she closed her eyes and threw her head back, taking a deep breath as she did. Ben and Reed stood somewhere behind her, talking in harsh whispers while Sue leaned against a small table, listening on and occasionally adding her two cents when she thought necessary. Before she sat down, she had spied Johnny sitting a few rows down, but chose not to go talk to him. She knew he wanted to be alone and really, she did too. It had been a long day. More than that, she wanted to sleep. Just crawl under the covers and not be bothered for a good eight hours. Eight hours sounded great.

Hearing the whispers behind her come to a stop and the door open, Kasey picked her head back up and turned toward the sound. Walking in, flanked by her normal pack of guards, stood Captain Raye. There was something Kasey didn't like about her, maybe it was the how she looked down her nose at her. As if she was better than her. Ha! Kasey was a superhero, she had screaming packs of fans following her around; girls who wanted to be her—of course some just wanted to get to Johnny through her—and guys who wanted her. What did Captain Raye have? A cold look on her face, three body guards and a personality a shade brighter than wet cardboard. Did she even have a first name? Standing up, Kasey made her way over to Ben and crossed her arms over her chest. No one said anything to the captain until Kasey rolled her eyes.

"Do you want something from us or are we just going to stare each other to death?" She snapped, cocking an eye brow at the other woman.

"I'd watch my tone if I were you Miss Winters." The Captain warned.

"Since when is having a tone a federal offence?"

"It's not, but I can make it one."

"And I can make you an ice pop, wanna try me?"

"Want to try me?"

"Sure. Let's go Barbie." Kasey challenged, taking a step towards her. From behind her guards, they moved the second Kasey did, Captain Raye smirked. Round One: Raye-1, Kasey-O. But, I'm not done yet. Kasey thought as she smirked in return. "Where I come from, hiding behind your friends makes you a chicken shit."

"So, you're one too, I take it."

"I don't hide behind anyone. Come out from back there and I'll explain it to you."

"That's enough Kasey!" Reed growled as he grabbed the young brunette by the arm and pulled her back.

"Aww c'mon Reed! We were this close to seeing a cat fight!" Johnny whined; his voice coming out of nowhere. He was now standing behind his sister. Kasey laughed softly at him.

"Johnny, knock it off." Sue scolded as she turned her attention back to Captain Raye. "I thought the General was going to be here?"

"He will soon, he just sent me in first."

"Well, what does he want?" Sue asked as Raye sent Kasey a cold look. It took all of her will power, plus Ben's hand on her shoulder, not to lunge at the Captain and bash her face into the floor. Just once, that's all she really wanted.

"He wants to know exactly what happened out there. And let me tell you, he's not happy that the Silver Surfer got away. Neither is anyone at the White House." She told them, her eyes still on Kasey.

"Look Barbie, I had nothing to do with him getting away, so you can stop giving me the glare from hell."

"You do not get to tell me what to do Miss Winters." Growling, Kasey clenched her fists together and screwed her eyes shut, imagining herself slamming her knuckles into Raye's nose. "But you all are aware of the damages aren't you? The Thames has been dried up, the extensive damages to the Millennium Wheel, that huge crater and of course, all of those people."

"We tried to keep them all safe." Sue amended, looking sadly at Reed. Rolling her eyes, Kasey slipped away from the group and went back to her seat; screw Captain Raye. The captain and her guards stayed for a few more minutes before they left again, promising them that the general would join them shortly. Kasey had her head titled up toward the ceiling again when Sue sat down next to her.

"Yes?" She asked, not even looking at her friend.

"You need to learn how to control your temper."

"My mother used to say the same thing." Kasey snorted bitterly. The touchy subject that was clearly labeled Mrs.. Patricia Winters was usually one Kasey stayed away from; she didn't talk about her mother. It was rare to hear the words 'my mother' slip through her lips and even rarer were the words 'my dad'. Jack Winters had died when Kasey was fifteen and not too long after that, Patricia disowned her only daughter when she married her new husband. After that, Kasey came to live with the Storms until she was eighteen when she went away to college.

"Kasey...your mom."

"Sue, that's enough please."

"Okay." Squeezing her shoulder, Sue dropped the subject just in time to see the General walk in. "C'mon Kase. The General's here."

"Oh joy. Did he bring me a muffin like I asked that girl?" She asked with that wild grin of hers; sometimes that drastic change in her moods unnerved Sue. Kasey was so much like Johnny and that was scarier than her moods jumping like that. To say the general wasn't happy with them was an understatement. He was hurling death threats, punishments, curses, breaking limbs, bashing skulls and somewhere mixed in there, sending them back to New York and letting his men deal with it.

"We'll make adjustments." Reed began. "Next time, we'll be ready." The General snorted and let out a bark of sarcastic laugher. He was mocking them, Kasey knew it and felt the familiar cold rush of water that ran down to her finger tips. It was growing colder, cold enough to launch a chunk of ice at someone.

"Next time? There is no next time! You can't handle this alone. That's why I brought in some help." He told them, nodding to some guard who scurried out of the room.

"General, bringing in more soldiers and weaponry is only going to put innocent people in danger." Reed protested.

"More than you already have?" Kasey knew that voice and felt her skin crawl. Oh God, please let my imagination be playing with me. Haha! I'm laughing and it's not very funny. If its him, someone's going down. I don't know who yet, but someone. Please, don't let it be him. Kasey begged, hoping someone or something would hear her pleas before the owner of the voice stepped into her line of sight. But no, there he was, back from the dead and still just the same cocky, arrogant pain in the ass as before, Victor Von Doom. God, the Fates and whomever else is up there, you all hate me, don't you? Don't deny it.

"Victor?" Reed fought out. Thank God he said it, Kasey didn't know if she'd stumble over her words or threaten to kill him.

"What's the matter?" He taunted. "Afraid of ghosts?" Out of the corner of her eye, Kasey saw the familiar glow of Johnny's fist breaking into flame and quickly, she mimed his actions; just this time hers was ice. Before either of them could act, Ben beat them to it and threw Victor into the far wall. Kasey gasped at the sound of body connecting with wall, but didn't feel sorry for Victor a bit; he deserved everything he got and then some.

"If you're a ghost..." Ben threatened, his hand wrapped around Victor's throat. "...then you won't mind if I break your neck." Kasey grinned a twisted little smile, the thought of Victor finally being out of their lives for good, for a second time, made her a little too happy on the inside. The man had tried to freeze her to death and almost sent her flying out a window; she wasn't going to stop Ben at all.

"Let him go!" General Hager shouted and was met by five very confused and angry sets of eyes.

"Do you know who he is?" Johnny shouted.

"He's Victor Von Doom and he's here on my orders." The General yelled back.

"He tried to kill us! And he took out a whole city block. Why the hell is he here?" Kasey screamed but the general ignored her. He was too busy sending his guards in to pry Ben off of Victor.

"Ben, let him go." Reed said calmly. It took a minute, as if Ben was thinking it over, but slowly, he let go of Victor, who collapsed to the floor in a puddle of his own clothes. "How, how is it possible? How are you alive?" Reed asked as Ben stepped away from him.

"No thanks to you five, that's for sure." Victor snapped as he stood and brushed himself off. He eyed the five of them closely, especially Sue and smirked when he saw Johnny and Kasey slide up alongside her; nothing had changed.

"Victor Von Doom had made contact with the alien. He's got valuable information." Hager said, almost singing Victor's praises.

"Information that might save the planet." Victor boasted, trying to sound like he was the hero instead of them. Kasey couldn't help it, she felt an outburst coming on.

"My ass you have 'valuable information'! You are such a liar! I bet my left one that you had some lackey of yours Google the Surfer and made up some crap story so Hager and his numbnut men would believe you!" She shouted.

"I didn't make anything up Kasey. Now, what is this left one you're talking about, seeing as you just lost a bet." Victor asked sweetly, stepping closer to Kasey. Sue was sure she was going to back up a step, but Kasey didn't, instead she met his gaze with a cold one of her own.

"Wouldn't you like to know." Kasey purred seductively, toying with the zipper just under her throat. "I don't let scum like you see what's under this suit."

"I've heard otherwise." Victor smiled when Kasey lunged at him, she almost clawed at his arm but Ben grabbed her just in time. His rocky arms wrapped around her waist but that didn't stop her from cocking her head back and spitting in Victor's face, just below his eye.

"Kasey!" Reed shouted.

"Did you hear what he said to me?! Did you?! Reed, he called me a whore! Let me go Ben!"

"Richards, you better get Miss Winters under control before I have someone sedate her." Kasey's eyes flicked over to Hager and tried to reenact what she had done to Victor, but of course, Ben stopped her; this time clamping a hand over her mouth. "Richards! If you don't do something, I will."

"All right sir. Ben, let her go. Sue, take her back to her room." Both nodded and soon, Kasey was being escorted back to her room by Sue. It was ridiculous. She had never felt more like a child in her life. People in the corridors watched as the two passed, some were shocked to see the pair and others just made way for them, stepping back against the wall. Pushing open the door to one of the private rooms they had been given, Kasey stepped into the one she had claimed as hers; it had the best view of the city, and padded over to the bed, where she dropped down on top of the neatly made blankets.

"Kasey..."

"Don't start Sue. He deserved it and that's all I'm going to say. I'm not going to fight with you. Just go back and tell Reed everything's fine. I'm in my room and I'll just chill out, I guess. I'm fine. Don't ask." She said somberly as she flopped backwards against the covers and pulled down a pillow, dropping it over her face.

"Kase..."

"I'm fine. Go back to Reed and the others, call Victor nasty names for me." She said, her voice muffled due to the pillow. Hearing the door close behind her, Kasey bolted upright and bit back a growl. Cracking all of her knuckles, she wiggled her fingers and then took aim; carelessly shooting objects around the room with jets of ice cold water. Soon, some water shifted over to ice and Kasey felt herself begin to relax. She was always getting in trouble; she was the youngest after all and she did have a quick temper, foul mouth and had no problem flying off the handle, especially when she felt it was needed. Reed and Sue were usually the firsts to yell, especially at her and Johnny; Ben only got involved when Johnny started hurling insults or fireballs his way. There were always fights at the Baxter Building, ones that usually involved puddles of water and wisps of smoke.

Two Years Earlier

"Johnny! I swear to God! I'm going to kill you!" Kasey shrieked as she came running out of her room, brandishing a melted black object. The object she held in her palm had once been her cell phone, her only connection to the real world; the World that didn't involve super powers or crazed 'mortal enemies'. "Johnny!" He wasn't that hard to find, he was in the living room watching ESPN with a huge grin on his face.

"Johnny!"

"Kasey." He said back, looking up at her with a wide grin. She cuffed him upside the head. "What was that for?"

"This!" She screamed, shoving her melted phone in his face.

"What's that?"

"You know what it is! You did it!"

"What makes you say that?"

"It's melted Johnny!"

"Pebbles could've done it."

"Ben didn't do it! He would've crushed it. You melted it!"

"Why would I melt your stuff?"

"Because your childish and you enjoy pissing me off."

"I do enjoy that. Do you know, that when you're mad, your nose does this thing where it scrunches up. It's pretty cute actually." He said casually, as he got to his feet and padded toward the kitchen, to refill his glass.

"I'll show you cute." She mumbled and somewhere inside, switched on her powers. It was still a few new feeling, to feel the coldness of the water rush through her and down into her finger tips, but she was slowly getting used to it. Tossing a ball of ice cold water up and down in her palm, she smirked wildly before lobbing it at the back of the Human Torch's head. Seeing his neck jerk forward, his feet stumble over the other and the glass go flying to the ground, Kasey let out a laugh. Johnny spun around and eyed the brunette.

"What the hell Kase?!"

"What's the matter Tink, don't like getting wet? Poor baby." She cooed as she conjured up other orb of water. "Catch!" She told him, before pitching again. This time, it struck him in the chest, soaking through his thin red t-shirt.

"Your dead Winters!" He growled, charging at Kasey. Shrieking, Kasey spun around on her heel and flew out of the living room. All of the doors in the back hall were shut; Reed and Sue had gone out for dinner with Ben and Alicia, leaving the two younger members home all alone. They'd regret it later. Ducking, as a fire ball streaked down the hall, Kasey watched it crash into the wall and left a scorch mark in its wake.

"Good going Match Stick! Sue's gonna be pissed!" She shouted, as another came flying at her. Again, it missed her; this time just by inches as she ducked into the bathroom. Placing both hands on the door frame, she sealed the opening with a sheet of ice and stuck her tongue out at Johnny from behind her shield like divider.

"Haha Hot Head! Try and get me now!" Kasey sing-songed triumphantly but that was short lived, seeing as Johnny began melting the ice. "Crap!"

"Haha Dribble." Growling at her nickname, Kasey chewed nervously on her lip for a second before flipping on the sink. Focusing on the rapid stream of water that was rushing from the tap, she stuck one hand under the flow and the other at the melting wall. Johnny had melted a hole large enough to fit his arm through; I am so using that to my advantage, Kasey thought with a smirk. Sticking her free arm through the hole, Johnny jumped back when he got a face full of cold water.

"Damnit Kasey!" Johnny shouted as she took down the rest of the ice and raced back up the hall, retracing her steps.

She was almost in Reed's lab when she felt something hot against the back of her neck. Looking over her shoulder, she shrieked at the sight of the Human Torch, flames licking up off of his skin and clothes, as he hovered a few feet of the ground below the both of them. Not so gently, she was shoved into a wall, back pressed up against the beige paint, and looked up into Johnny's fiery eyes. He had his hips pressed into hers, pinning her in place and his hands placed on either side of her head, his fingers wrapped loosely around her wrists.

"Johnny, what are you doing?" She asked, trying to laugh off the nervousness that filled her voice.

"Got you Kase."

"Damn right you do. Now, let me go."

"Where's the fun in that Kase? We're just playing."

"No, we're not playing. Move your hip, you're hurting me." The flames that incased his body did nothing to her, nothing, all she felt was the heat. Johnny knew from past experience that they cancelled each other out, he couldn't hurt her and she couldn't hurt him; no matter how hard they tried.

"So, I caught you, I win. Where's my prize."

"Out at some night club. Move!" She was done playing, she hated being in this situation. It wasn't the first time one of their stupid fights had ended this way, but for tonight, Kasey was done playing.

"Aww c'mon Kase." He whined, the flames slowly fading away and Johnny, not the Human Torch, stood in front of her again; his face hovering just inches away from hers.

"All right..." She whispered, as her fingers curled down to grasp his and a smirk tugged at her lips; he wasn't playing fair anymore and in a second, she wouldn't be either. "...just once." It wasn't exactly a short kiss, but the playfulness that she wanted it to have was there and it was just enough to distract Johnny from what she was really doing. When they pulled apart, she smiled at him as she pulled her arms free from his grasp and slid under his out stretched arms. Stepping back a few feet, she watched as he tried to tug himself free from the wall and laughed when he turned toward her. Around his wrists, where Kasey's fingers had been, were two cuff like blocks of ice. There was no way he could break them or wiggle himself free, the only way out was to melt them; she just wanted to see if he'd figure that part out.

"Kasey! Kasey! Kasey, get back here!" Johnny shouted as she padded away, heading into the kitchen to pick up the pieces of glass off the floor. She had only dropped the broken pieces of glass into the trash when she heard the door open; the others were home.

"Johnny! Kasey! We're...what's going on in here?" Reed asked, looking over to Johnny who was still stuck to the wall. "Kasey?" Peaking her head out, Kasey smiled innocently; Sue had a hand on her hip while Reed shook his head and Ben and Alicia both laughed softly.

"What? I didn't do anything. Don't look at me like that Reed. Besides, he melted my cell phone. He deserved it."

----

Present

Kasey padded barefoot down the carpeted hallway that led back to her room, her hair was damp and pulled into a dark, wet ponytail. Her skin was somewhat flushed from her shower, but dry none the less. After Sue had left, she had stayed in her room until she knew the general was done with the others before sneaking out and going for a long run, which lead to lunch alone and then she came back to relax. She had gotten a lot done in her time alone; her fingernails and toe nails were painted black again, she had unpacked somewhat and even called a couple friends of hers. But now, the night was finally winding down and she had decided after showering, to get some sleep. Whatever was going to happen in the morning was going to require her being somewhat awake. Yawning slightly, she was almost to her room when she heard someone clear their throat behind her. Spinning around, she felt a snarl appear on her face.

"Hello Kasey."

"Go to Hell Victor. I'm not in the mood to deal with you." She said shortly, trying to avoid another round with him.

"Oh Kasey, you wound me so." He said, putting a hand over his heart as he glared at her. Advancing on him, Kasey felt the air grow cold as she jabbed him in the shoulder.

"Listen jackass, I'm not some kid you can boss around or play with whenever you want. This time around, I will kick your ass and Reed will not stop me. Got it."

"You're not brave enough to Winters." Clucking her tongue, she placed a hand over the one he had on his chest and turned up the cold, the sound of her skin icing over quickly hit her ears.

"Ya know, my powers are stronger than they were last time we met. I can freeze your heart if I leave my hand here long enough, that is, if you have a heart." She hissed before pushing off of him and turning her back on him, going back to her room before he could say anymore.

Closing the door behind her, Kasey leaned back against it and sighed. God, she hated that man. Running a hand over her face, she took a deep breath and counted back from ten, just once she wished she could blast him into oblivion and be done with him.

"Kase? What's wrong?" Hearing Johnny's voice, she nearly jumped out of her skin and looked toward where the sound came from. Johnny was sitting on her bed, with his elbows resting on his knees and eyes trained on her.

"I ran into Victor. Bastard. How'd you get in here? Why are you here? Did you go out or something?" She asked, sitting down next to him, close enough but not close enough to actually touch.

"You left the door open when you left. I knocked, no one answered, so I let myself in. I came to check on you, since I didn't earlier. And yeah, went out with Ben. How'd you know?"

"You looked dressed to go out. I'm fine, you can go back to your room now."

"Kicking me out already? Do you say that to all the boys?"

"Just the dumb ones. What about you? All the girls?" She asked with a grin.

"Shut up Kasey."

"So, what did you and Ben do?"

"Went out for a drink, played darts, talked about the end of the world. Normal guy stuff."

"The end of the world huh? What brought that on?"

"Reed."

"Figured. So, what's going to happen? When is it going to end? Because I have some money stashed away and if we're gonna go, I want to spend it on new clothes. Remember that, bury me in new clothes." She said, laughing slightly.

"It's not funny Kase."

"Ya think?" Sarcasm, always sarcasm with Kasey. "All right, if the world's coming to an end, how are you going to spend your last precious moments?" She asked, cocking her head to the side and looking intently at the Human Torch.

"I asked Ben the same thing."

"What did he say?"

"He'd want to spend them with Alicia, but he'd really like to go down fighting."

"What about you Tink?"

"That's the last thing I want to be called before I die."

"Crap. I was gonna put in a request to have it engraved on your head stone."

"Do it and I'll have Dribble put on yours."

"I'll kill you first, remember that." Johnny smiled at her and for some odd reason, Kasey felt heat rising up in her cheeks. She never blushed, especially in front of Johnny. "I asked you a question Buddy Friend, how would you spend yours?"

"Going down fighting doesn't sound too bad."

"It's horrible if you want my opinion."

"Well, actually I do. So, what about you? How would you spend yours?"

"Okay, I'll admit going down fighting doesn't sound that bad. And if I'm going down fighting Victor, the last thing I wouldn't mind seeing would be him going before me. God, that would make me so friggin' happy. Just to see him, to see the lights fade from his eyes and all that, after all the hell he caused us, I'd die happy."

"So that's what does it for ya huh? People dying? I gotta remember that. Freak." Johnny said with a smug grin.

"Shut up Tink. I'm being serious now. Outside of seeing Victor die, I want to spend my last minutes with someone I care about, ya know? I don't want to go out alone. I'm not saying, I want someone holding my hand either, because that's not me, but I want someone there. I really want the last thing I ever see to be someone I care about. Someone who meant something to me, someone who..." Her words ended when Johnny's lips met hers. The contact triggered the switch, all of a sudden Kasey felt like she was on fire and somewhere in the back of her head, she noticed that Johnny's lips were cold. But nothing happened this time, the bed below them didn't go up in flames, her clothes were still in one piece and Johnny's weren't soaked through. They cancelled each other out. But that didn't stop Kasey's fingers from curling into Johnny's short hair or his from inching their way up the back of her tank top. The pad of his thumb was cold as it rubbed across the notches of her spine. Arching into the cold touch, it felt so good on her too hot skin, she moaned a little into the kiss which only made Johnny go deeper. From there, it got a little vicious; teeth scraped, lips mashed, tongues fought and Kasey swore that Johnny bit down on her lower lip. Kasey pushed back first, not far but far enough to breath in her own oxygen, and rested her forehead against Johnny's.

"Crap. Hot."

"That good huh?" Johnny asked, his lips brushing against Kasey's forehead. She could almost feel that smug grin forming above her eye brows.

"No! I'm hot you ego-maniac."

"Oh. Well if we keep doing that, we're gonna keep switching."

"If Reed finds out this happened..."

"The making out?"

"No, the switching and we're not making out, teenagers do that."

"I make out."

"Yeah, with everything that has long legs and can wear a mini skirt."

"You have long legs and would look great in a mini skirt." Shaking her head, she pulled back a little further and sighed.

"Johnny, focus. If Reed finds out we kept switching, he'll be pissed."

"It's none of his business." He told her, titling her chin up toward him. "So...umh...back to what we were doing."

"And we're still gonna switch...it's hot. Switch back." She muttered, grabbing Johnny by the chin.


	9. Two Sides

**Hey guys. Sorry for the lack of updates but you can all blame this place where I supposedly go to learn, paid way too much for text books I barely touch and don't really pay enough attention to get my moneys worth. Collegebad. Bad for me and my stories. Expect when I zone out in my India and South East Asia course and start writing chapters. Anyway, this is what happens when I get tired of listening to Professor Goodman and think "hmmm…what should happen next?" So, here we are! I know this might be kinda on the short side, but it's what I like to call "Gap Filler" that I'm dropping in between these kinda big "action sequences". All right, I'm shutting up now. Onto the chapter. I hope you guys like this. Keep reading and reviewing.—B.E**

**Chapter Eight- Two Sides **

"Sue!"

Johnny watched as his sister's head snapped around at the sound of his voice and smiled warmly at him. Good. He caught her just in time; he had a funny feeling that she was going to the lab to try and pull Reed away from whatever he was doing for a few minutes. That was if he knew what the meaning of the word 'break' meant. Johnny doubted that. He knew that Reed made his sister happy, but there were times when he wanted to whack him upside the back of the head the same way Kasey did to him, just to knock a little bit of sense into him.

"Yeah Johnny, what's up?" She asked, the two meeting in the middle of the long hallway that had separated them. "Did you just come back in? You're drenched."

"Yeah. It's still pouring out there." He said, shrugging off his soaked through jacket. It had been raining ever since they arrived in London, ever since that whole mess with the Surfer and the Millennium Wheel. "Oh, can I ask you something?"

"Sure. Is something wrong?"

"No. Just wondering, have you talked to Kasey lately?"

"Why? Should I have?"

"She's your best friend…don't you…I dunno…" He asked, with an impatient wave of his hand, as if he was searching for the right words. "…ya know…girl talk or whatever?"

"Johnny, we've had a crazy couple of days, I haven't had time to actually have a real conversation with her. Why? Is something the matter? You haven't upset her again, have you?"

Johnny fumed. Why would Kasey be mad? It was just a kiss. Okay, it wasn't just _a _kiss, it was a lot of kisses and they did spend the night together—no, not like that!—but still. He had slept in her room. Was she mad? He hadn't seen her since then either, huh. And it hadn't stopped pouring since then either, could Kasey affect the weather now too? Was she that mad at him? Oh God, he had pissed her off and now, she was taking it out on London. Great. Just great. Good job Johnny, not only did he mess up everything with the Millennium Wheel, he had pissed Kasey off to the point of Natural Disaster.

"Johnny! Johnny! Are you listening?" Sue shouted, snapping her fingers in front of her brother's face.

"What? Oh yeah…no. I didn't upset her. Hell, I haven't talked to her in two days."

"Well, you must've been the last person to see her, last time I saw her for more than a couple seconds was when I 'escorted'…" Sue rolled her eyes as that word slipped through her lips. "…her back to her room. She's been pretty quiet lately." Sue watched her younger brother fidget for a second or so before looking back up at her.

"Do you think I did something to her?"

"Did you say anything to her?"

"_No, I spent the night her room though. And I took off before she woke…oh. That might've done it." _He thought and then snapped his fingers together.

"I think I know what happened. Have you seen her today?"

"She went out for a run. She said she'd been back soon. But if it's pouring like you said, she might've changed her plans." Sue said, flipping her hair off of her shoulder. "Check her room."

"Thanks Sue, you're the best." He said, with a smile as he gave his sister half of a quick hug before taking off. Sue stood in the hall; her brows scrunched together and gave his retreating form an odd look. Something was up.

----

Hoisting her purse back up over her shoulder, Kasey sighed as she stood under the covered curved drive that lead up to the Embassy building and watched as her taxi driver emptied the trunk, placing all of her shopping bags at her feet. Sure, she was a 'superhero' and she was here to find the Silver Surfer, not to shop, but she was a strong believer in retail therapy and that morning, retail therapy just seemed to be a good idea. It had been raining, she couldn't go for her run and there were only so many places she could hide out in until Johnny wised up and figured out she had been avoiding him. So, shopping it was.

"Here you go miss." The driver said, with a smile. Oh god, they were happier and way nicer than the ones back in New York. That alone made her day just a little brighter. "Hope you have a great day."

"You too. Here, you didn't need to get my bags, I could've." Kasey said, slipping some money into his hand.

"Miss…"

"Keep the change." Looping her hands through all of the handles attached to her shopping bags, she picked them all up and headed into the large building. Walking down the carpeted hallway, Kasey made her way toward her room. Now, outside of a run which she wasn't getting, all she wanted to do was play dress up with her new clothes and start pairing off outfits. She was almost to her doorway when she heard someone clearing their throat behind her. A very annoyed someone, from the sound of it. Turning on her heel, Kasey found Captain Raye standing across the hall, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Good afternoon Captain. How are you on this lovely day?" Kasey chirped, nearly gagging on her fake and overly sweet tone.

"I was fine, until I saw you walking in. Miss Winters, you are aware that you're here to deal with a matter of national security, you're here to do a job. That this is not a vacation."

"What would make you think that I think this is a vacation?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe all the shopping bags." Raye snapped, pointing at everything that had been laid out near Kasey's feet.

"This? This is just a few things that I needed."

"Oh really?" Raye asked, grabbing one of the bags and dumping the contents; a pair of black paten leather high heels spilled out of their box and fell to the floor. "Do you need these?"

"Yes. Now if you don't mind, put them back in the box." Kasey growled. She wasn't above kicking the crap out of Raye; captain or not.

"No. I am not putting them back." Raye snapped, glaring at her through narrowed slits for eyes.

"Fine, be a bitch. See if I care." Kasey muttered as she kneeled down and stuffed her new shoes back into their box. "And next time you touch my stuff, I'll kick your ass. Do you hear me?" She said, standing back up and stared Raye right in the eye.

"You lay one finger on me…" 

"And you'll what? Have me arrested? Go for it, I dare you. Nothing will happen to me, ya know? I'm like a celebrity. Just ask Johnny, he'll explain the whole damn thing to you."

"This is why I said not to involve you five…_freaks_!" Raye spat out. "I said not to ask you five along, especially you and the hot head. You two think this is some kind of game, people are dying. More people could die and the last time you all tried to save people, did you see what happened? This is all a disaster and you all caused it. And you think you're a celebrity? Because you have fans who ask you to take pictures with them and sign things? God, you make me sick."

Kasey bit down so hard on the inside of her cheek that she tasted blood. Unreal, she wasn't going to sit here and let this…this…that woman talk to her that way. And besides, Kasey was never one to back down from a fight. She called her a freak. That had never sat too well with her.

"Ya know Raye, I'm glad I make you sick, seeing as you bore me to death! If you pulled that damn stick out of your ass and lighten up, maybe loosen up and let your hair down, you'd be a little easier to live with. Who knows, you might just be someone I'd talk to. And if I ever did lay a finger on you, I'd freeze the rest of you to match your frozen and dull personality." With all of her things back in hand, Kasey turned back around and marched toward her room. Leaving Raye standing in the hall, she nearly kicked down the door and after leaving everything by her small closet, Kasey found Sue sitting on her bed, waiting for her.

"Sue?"

"Hey Kase. See you went shopping."

"Yeah, wanna see what I bought?"

"In a little bit, I have to ask you something."

"Shoot." Kasey said, shrugging off her jacket and draped it over an arm chair to dry.

"What's going on with you and Johnny?" Kasey swore she felt her heart stop, as if her pulse had all but dried up and she was just standing there, waiting for her body to collapse. Had he run and told Sue some crazy story about the two of them? He was famous for that. All she knew was that when she fell asleep, he had been there and when she woke up, he was gone. She should've known better, that was Johnny trademark for God sakes; "love 'em and leave 'em."

"Nothing. Why?"

"Earlier, he asked if you and I had talked to each other lately."

"And?"

"He wanted to know if he had upset you."

"_Of course he upset me! Hell, he's Johnny. That in and of itself upsets me. Ass. I swear…" _She thought as she stared at Sue for a minute and then pulled herself back from her thoughts. "No, he didn't do anything." Sue's eyes narrowed at her. Something was up, she knew it now. Something had happened between the two of them.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah Sue. Why? What did he say? Did he tell you some outrageous story or whatever?"

"He didn't tell me anything."

And the strange thing about what Sue had said was that it actually stung.


	10. Sparks of Silver and Flame

**OK! So, I'M BACK!! Yay vacation! Ok, in other news, the new chapter! Yay new chapter! So, I finally took everything you guys said in your reviews and right here in this chapter, there is going to be a little Kasey/Surfer action. Granted, it's via dream…not like that; get your minds out the gutter…filthy. Haha. But no, not like that, they're connected somehow. I'm not going to give that away; you'll have to read to find out. And yes, there will also be some K/J action too. Oh! Movie Timeline, the K/J stuff takes place right after Capt. Raye walks by as Johnny walks out of the shower. Just wanted to keep everyone up to speed. So this chapter—I'm returning the favor finally!—is dedicated to Elenamindollin because things are going to get WAY convoluted here. It's an inside joke. Haha. Anyways, I hope everyone likes this chapter. Let me know what you think, keep reading and reviewing! –B.E**

**Chapter Nine- Sparks of Silver and Flame**

It was cold, colder than any dream she had in a long time. And dark. Very dark. Not the dark like when you turn all the lights off in your bedroom before going to bed dark, but the kind of dark that was so heavy and inky that you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. Hell, you didn't even know you still had a hand. That dark. And it was getting colder. Colder than she was actually used to. She could feel her body starting to freeze.

Off in the distance, pin points of pure white light, no bigger than the size of a pin head broke through the darkness and a churning wind began to pick up. Her unbound hair snapped and whipped at her face, leaving warm red welts on her cheeks. The lights exploded and her arms shot up, covering her eyes. A loud whooshing howled in her ears and she lowered her right arm just a little, and looked out into the now lit up space. A huge spinning and violent mass, it reminded her of that cosmic cloud she had seen not too long ago, spiraled toward her. Its power rolled around the empty space in waves and vibrated off her skin, making her tremble from the inside out; even her metal fillings were rattling in her teeth. But the power it gave off was intoxicating; she wanted to reach for it, to touch it, to find a way to harness it, just for a little while. She was drawn to it. It was a natural power, the same power that filled her body now. It hummed with organic electricity and her body answered back. She wanted it. But never moved forward to touch it. The vortex of spinning power slowly chugged through the semi-lit darkness; angry reddish brown clouds now broke off and expanded around it. Pure power.

With the star like pricks of light that had appeared, she noticed for the first time that with the stars came asteroids, planets and a galaxy hovered off to her left. Space. It was beautiful. She had been drawn to that too when she had gone up a few years prior. She had been like a moth to a flame; she had wanted to touch that too. A low and core shaking almost roar—it was the only word she could think of to describe it—burst through her skull and pulled her back to the powerful vortex. Something was happening.

The lights vanished just as fast as they had appeared, stars extinguished and died out, the planets broke apart and asteroids shattered to nothing more than tiny specks of rock. The spinning vortex was destroying the space around her. Taken the power and life from everything and then moving on as if it was nothing.

"_It is in its nature." _A soothing voice trickled into her ear and she spun around, finally tearing her eyes away from the destruction. Behind her, the Surfer appeared. Anger built up within her, but she was too cold, too frozen to move. To attack him. To fight back. _"You cannot stop it Young Creator." _That peaked her interest.

"_Young Creator? Why did you call me that?"_

"_You have the powers to control and tame water. Tame the wildest current. You create water." _He said simply, staring at her with deep silver eyes. She swore she could see the world and beyond in his eyes. He was just as intoxicating as the power the vortex gave off. She couldn't stop herself; he was drawing her in. _"Everything needs water to thrive, Young Beautiful Creator." _

"_So I'm Beautiful too?"_ In her head, something shook softly and felt warm. He was laughing.

"_Anyone who can create life in such a way is beautiful. And you are very much like the one your people call Mother Earth." _If she could, she would've ducked her head to hide the blush creeping up her neck. _"You and I, Young Creator, will meet again. We are…"_

"_Connected. I know. I've felt it."_

"_Good, that is good. We will meet again before this is all over. Before this happens to you."_

----

Kasey's eyes opened with a snap as she flew up off of the couch she had fallen asleep on. Clutching a hand to her chest, her eyes danced wildly around the room and tried to catch her breath. Okay, so she was still in the Embassy's huge library where she had drifted off while reading one of the new books she had bought a few days earlier when she went shopping. Okay, that explained where she was. But what about that dream? Holy crap. So she and the Surfer were connected? Interesting. But how? Because she was water and if she tried hard enough, could create life? She had never done that before, all she had created—outside of huge messes—were puddles, snow balls and ice. Well, that was creating something. Granted, they weren't technically living, but hey…it still counted, right? So if she was a 'creator', what was he? What she did know was that huge cloud thing was definitely a destroyer of some kind. So that made the Surfer what?

She couldn't think about that now. She needed to tell someone about that…that…huge planet destroying cloud.

"That doesn't sound crazy at all, does it?" Leaving her book on the butter soft brown leather couch, Kasey easily slid off and jumped to her feet. Walking out of the library, she made her way silently down the empty halls and rounded a corner. Looking down the hall, she could see Captain Raye's shrinking form; good she didn't have to deal with her, but standing not five feet away from her was Johnny, still wrapped in a towel from his shower. She could use one herself, long and ice cold. But before she could do anything like that, she'd have to deal with Johnny. The two hadn't spoke to one another since that night they spent in her room and she had no intentions of talking to him anytime soon. All she had to do was walk right past him and go down to her room to get her brush, two towels and a change of clothes, then double back and slip into the bathroom. Easier said than done.

"Hey Kase."

"Johnny." She said shortly as she looked back to where Raye had been going; the other woman had already disappeared. "Were you talking to Captain Bitchy-Pants?"

"Yeah, her name's Frankie." Kasey laughed softly under her breath, what a name for a pain in the ass. The last Frankie she knew was in high school and he liked to stare down her shirt whenever he handed papers back to her in class. Ass.

"Cute name. What did you say to her to get her to tell you?"

"I asked." He said with a shrug. "And she told me."

"You probably annoyed the hell out of her." He only shrugged again. They stood together, in a very awkward silence before Kasey cleared her throat. "Well…umh…I wanna take a quick shower, I gotta go get my stuff." Johnny nodded and let her walk past, only to grab her by the belt loops—since grabbing her by the elbow was a no-no—and pulled her back. "What?"

"Can I ask you something?" Oh God, here it comes, she thought before nodding.

"Yeah, sure. What's up?"

"What do I gotta do to get that woman to like me?" A rock the size of Ben's fist splashed into her stomach. God, she hated him. She wanted to punch him and then run to her room and cry. But why was she acting this way? She knew Johnny better than anyone; she knew he wasn't a relationship person. But why did he have to ask her that? Now? Only a few days after what happened between them? He was such a…she could call him as many names as she wanted, but he would always be Johnny.

"Honestly, I don't know, nor do I care. Why don't you ask Sue?" Kasey snapped before turning on her heel and marching to her room. She could always tell Reed about her dream later, right now she wanted to drown herself. Kasey might've known him better than Sue, but what she didn't know was that for Johnny, watching her walk away from him with that hurt and cold look on her face, hurt more than any slap she could hit him with.

—K—

Trees sprung up and loomed over head, blocking out the afternoon sun and kept it cool in the forest below. Damp earth squished under her boots as she followed Sue deeper into the thick line of trees. They had spilt up only a few minutes before: they three guys had each gone a separate way while the girls stayed together. Normally, Kasey worked with Johnny, but she had volunteered to go with Sue this time. Reed wasn't shocked, he just shrugged it off and set out to work, but Sue was. She had made a mental note to ask Kasey what was up whenever they got back. Up ahead of her, Kasey watched as Sue adjusted the metal case's handle in her hand. The case was the size of a small suitcase and inside was the transmitter that, once all four were linked together, would be able to jam the Surfer's link with his board. Instead of carrying the transmitter, Kasey had the small GPS device and watched on the screen as the two of them got closer to the post Reed had mapped out for them.

"Are we almost there?" Sue asked, looking back at her.

"Yep, just a few more paces." She muttered as over the com link the girls were sharing, she heard Johnny and Ben tell Reed that they were ready to go, their transmitters were up and running. "The guys are done. We better move before Reed calls and starts complaining." Sue laughed and then nodded.

"Tell him we're almost there." Sue said a few minutes later when they finally got to their post.

"Reed?" Kasey said into the com link attached to her wrist, holding the 'talk' button down.

"_Yeah Kase? How are you two doing?" _Came Reed's tinny reply.

"Almost there. Just a few more minutes."

"_All right, we're just waiting on you guys." _Looking over at Sue, Kasey watched as she set up the transmitter, punching the right codes in and all that crap; that wasn't her job, never had been and never would be. All around her the forest buzzed with life and she felt her body relax. She had always liked the outdoors as a kid, but when she got her powers, she felt more 'in-tune' with nature than before. Reed said it had to do with the water and she agreed; ever since that day she liked being outside more than usual. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath of the cool air when she noticed something didn't feel right. Something was off. Opening them, Kasey saw that the dim forest was now glowing with a silvery light.

"Sue!"

"What Kasey?" The panic in Kasey's voice caused her to look up from what she was doing and stared over at her friend. "What's wrong?"

"He's here."

"The Surfer?"

"Yeah, we have a problem."

"_Get out of there now!" _Reed's voice snapped from the com link; Kasey must've forgotten to take her finger off the button.

"Tell him we're not done." Sue hissed, her eyes trained on the Surfer.

"Did you hear her? We're not done. The thingy isn't set up!" Kasey wanted to shout into the small walkie-talkie.

"_Leave it! Just get out of there now!" _Reed shouted back. Sue reached for her, her fingers wrapped tightly around her elbow, but neither moved. Both seemed to be transfixed with the glowing silver figure. Kasey felt the link between them throb with that familiar draw of energy, like calling to like. She could feel him brush against her thoughts with his.

"_Beautiful Creator, we meet again."_

"_What are you doing here?" _

"_It is beginning."_

"_What is?! Tell me! What's going on?!" _The voice in Kasey's mind exploded against his, but there was no response. _"Damn it, answer me! Answer me!" _

"Why are you destroying our world?" Kasey's blue eyes blinked rapidly, the link had been served and she turned toward Sue. So that was why he wasn't answering, Sue was talking to him. Huh….Despite looking calm and collected, he flinched a little and Kasey smiled; gotta love Sue and her getting right to the heart of the matter. "If you're going to do it, we at least have the right to know why."

"I have no choice." Kasey blinked, it was the first time she had really heard his voice out loud, not the one he used inside her head. He sounded a little unattached, emotionally not there and it made her wonder if there was a reason behind all of this. But before either of them could say anymore to him—out loud or mentally—someone's shout pierced the silence.

"Get back!" It was Reed. He had managed to race to the clearing they were in, Johnny and Ben right behind him. The air shifted around the two, growing tense and almost cracked with electricity. This wasn't going to end well.

"Wait!" Kasey hissed, looking into his endless eyes. "Wait! At least answer Sue! Why don't you have a choice? There's always a choice." She snapped. _"If not, tell me." _Kasey tried again, this time softly brushing against the tight outer ridge of his mind.

"Not always." He deadpanned. _"Not always Beautiful One. I am sorry" _

"_No! You have a choice, tell me! Why are you doing this?! Why are you destroying our world! Tell me, goddamn you!" _

"I am not the destroyer." Kasey had no idea who the Surfer was talking to, but it didn't matter. She wanted answers either way.

"Then who is?" It was Sue who asked.

"_I will not tell your friend, Beautiful One. Nor will I tell you. It will only cause too much grief for you. Do not be angry."_

"_I am angry!" _Kasey shrieked back. _"Tell me! I won't tell! Tell me!" _But he never answered and turned his attention elsewhere. Kasey felt something, the ground trembled ever so slightly and she could hear a soft whizzing sound on the air. Looking up, Kasey saw a wall of missiles coming toward them. Toward her. Toward Sue. Toward the Surfer. Sue's grip on her arm got tighter, so tight that her nails nearly pierced through her suit and before either could say a word, the Surfer glided in front of them, protecting them with something that looked vaguely like one of Sue's force fields.

"_Forgive me for this Beautiful One." _

Kasey couldn't find the words, but nodded slightly and only hoped he caught it before the missiles came any closer.

* * *

_And I end here! I know, I am a bad person. Haha.  
__So is that whole mental/telepathic link between Kasey and the Surfer good? Let me know what you guys think! _


	11. The Name Game

**New chapter! Okay guys, so I think I've figured out who Kasey is going to wind up with...but no, I can't tell you right now. You'll have to wait. haha. I know, I'm mean. Anyways, in this chapter there's a flashback and definitely some Johnny/Kasey action, but that doesn't mean its going to be J/K for the rest of the story. My favorite part of this chapter is the whole J/K scene. You can't miss it. So! I hope you guys like this, keep reading and reviewing!--B.E **

**Chapter Ten-The Name Game**

**----  
**_Two Years Earlier  
__----  
_

Skipping down the steps that lead into the sunken in living/media/movie/hang out room—Reed had at least five names for everything—Kasey eyed the three people standing around her and arched an eye brow. Had she missed a memo? Was there a meeting going on and she hadn't been invited? Sue was standing there with her arms crossed over her chest, so was Reed and Ben was pacing. In front of them, the television was on; a highlight package from what looked like some kind of sport thing Johnny would be watching. Speaking of which, where was he? It was abnormally quiet.

"What's going on?" Kasey asked, hoping someone would answer her.

"Johnny." Was Ben's gruff reply.

"He's not even here. Where is he?"

"There! He's right there!" Following Ben's rocky finger, Kasey glanced over at the television. There in the center of the screen stood Johnny with a huge crowd of people behind him, most of the ones in the front just happened to be obnoxious blonde bimbettes—Johnny's personal favorites—and standing on his left was a reporter. And guess what? She was blonde too. Behind all the screaming and drooling girls were guys, some still wearing motorcycle helmets while most just had on X-Game t-shirts. So that was where he was.

"Oh my God, the idiot's on TV! And what the hell did he do to his suit?" The metallic silver '5' on his chest seemed to jump off of the dark blue material the suits were made out of. "How come he has that and mine doesn't? Sue, what did he do?"

"I have no idea but when I get my hands on him, he's dead." Sue ground out. Out of the corner of her eye, Kasey caught Reed tugging his lab coat over to one side. What was he up to now? With the new found control she had, Kasey aimed a well placed burst of water and pushed his fingers away. On Reed's chest, the same silver '5' glowed back at her.

"You've got one too?!" Sue demanded, hands on her hips.

"It was all Johnny's idea. He talked me into it."

"I swear Reed, that's un…" Johnny's voice and his face on the screen caused Sue to stop mid sentence. "Oh god."

"_So what are you super hero names?" _The reporter asked, looking at Johnny with a goofy smile on her face.

"_They call me the Human Torch. The ladies call me Torch." _The girls flocking around his giggled, Kasey gagged. Torch. Stupid. _'Hot headed idiot sounds a lot better,' _Kasey thought with a slight smirk.

"_What about the rest of the team?" _The camera cut away from Johnny and over to a jumbo-tron, where Sue's picture now looked back at them. This wasn't going to end well.

"_That's my sister; we call her the Invisible Girl." _Johnny said smiling. Kasey's sputtering laughter filled the living room as she quickly clamped a hand down over her mouth.

"It's not funny Kasey." Sue snapped. "But _Girl_? What's he thinking?"

"He's not! He never does!" Ben groaned.

"_What about Reed Richards? Your leader?" _Reed stood up a little straighter when the reporter said his name. _"So what's he? Mr. Fantastic?"_

"_I wouldn't call him the leader, but Mr. Fantastic is all right." _Johnny shrugged.

"Could've been worse." Ben said, looking over at Reed.

"I guess."

"Knowing Johnny, a lot worse." Kasey mumbled before turning back to the television.

"_Now is it true that he can stretch any part of his anatomy?" _The reporter asked as the crowd behind her and Johnny giggled again.

"_Well, I've always found him to be a little limp." _Behind her, Kasey heard Reed almost choke on his tongue and saw Sue blush. Johnny was more than dead when they caught up with him.

"See, worse." Kasey hissed to Ben. Then up on the screen came Ben's face and some of the crowd gaped. Kasey wanted to hit them. They didn't know Ben. They didn't know Ben at all; all they saw was the pictures in the paper or on television. They knew nothing about the Ben she knew. Idiots.

"_What is that? What do you call that thing?" _The woman asked, looking up at the tron where Ben's picture was hanging.

"_That's it! The Thing!" _Johnny said proudly. _"You think this bad? You should've seen him before." _

"Okay, now I'm gonna go kill him." Ben growled and headed for the door, Sue right behind him. She managed to catch up with him before he hit the doorway.

"Wait! Ben wait! At least let's hear what he has to say about Kasey." Sue said with her hand on his arm. "Just wait."

"He better have a good name for ya Drip or I'm gonna scream at ya for makin' me wait." Kasey nodded before turning back to the television.

"_Seems like we missed someone. What about your ex-girlfriend, Kasey Winters?" _Some of the girls in the crowd made faces when the reporter called her his ex. Rolling her eyes, Kasey was more concerned with what picture they picked instead of a group of stupid girls. Up on the jumbo-tron came the worst picture of herself that Kasey had ever seen. It was from that day on the bridge and she looked like crap.

"Oh God, look at me. I look like hell."

"Shut up Drip. I wanna hear this." Ben snarled as he stood next to her.

"_That's Typhoon."_ Johnny said into the microphone with a smile on his face.

"_Typhoon?"_

"_Yeah, she might be something pretty and rare to look at, but she's powerful and strong too. Don't mess with Kasey."_

Kasey beamed, her smile lit up the entire room and Ben felt like he was going to be sick. That had to be the nicest thing he had ever said to or about her. Of course he gave Kasey the best name; he was still trying to get back on her good side.

"I don't know about you guys, but I like my name." She said a second later.

"Of course ya do Drip, now can we go?" Ben asked, sounding impatient. Sue and Reed nodded and followed Ben out of the room, Kasey hot on their heels. Typhoon, huh? Not bad.

----  
_Present  
----_

"Dude, this is so boring!"

The sound of Johnny's voice pulled Kasey from her thoughts. Blinking, she looked up from her chipped blue nails and glanced over to where Johnny was sitting with his feet kicked up on the long table in front of him and snorted loudly. Idiot. They were in what looked like a conference room for some kind of military board meetings with two armed guards at the door; they weren't there to have fun. They were technically prisoners. Sinking back into her chair, she pulled her legs up to her chest and rested her head on her knee caps. He was right though, this was boring. And she had no one to talk to. Ben and Reed were discussing something, Johnny was moaning about being bored and Sue had left, invisible of course, to go talk to the Surfer. She had wanted to go, but there was a problem; Kasey couldn't just walk out of the room and a puddle slinking its way across the floor of a heavily secure military base wasn't something people saw everyday. Sure, Sue could've grabbed her arm and turned her invisible too, but that took too much out of Sue and Kasey wasn't going to risk a nose bleed just because she was curious.

Feeling something ping off her arm, Kasey's eyes darted around her and her chair until she found a tiny ball of paper sitting near her foot. Picking it up, she sighed and then turned to look over at Johnny. Where had he gotten paper from and who was the moron who gave it to him? He was like a four year old at times and the paper ball proved it. He was probably trying for a spitball but without a straw, it was useless. Kasey didn't need a straw. A small current erupted from her finger tips, soaking the ball and then with a burst of power, sent it flying. It landed with a wet sounding smack up against Johnny's cheek. A peel of giggles slipped through her lips when Johnny turned to glare at her.

"What was that for Dribble?"

"You threw it at me, so I threw it back." She said with a hand over her mouth as she tried to stop laughing. He obviously didn't find it that funny as he turned back around and put his back to her. Fine. If he wanted to be that way, let him. She was happier without him. Yawning, she put her head back down on her knees and closed her eyes.

"Hey Kase?" The voice came at her a few minutes later and was very, very close. What was he up to now? Opening one eye, she found Johnny sitting on the very end of the table, looking at her. Now what? He was being a pest and he knew it.

"What?"

"What was up with you and the Surfer? He kept looking at you like that."

"Like how?"

"Like you were his girl or something." Rolling her eyes, Kasey sat up straighter and looked right at Johnny. He was going to regret saying that. Just watch. Just wait.

"Well at least someone does."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Exactly what I said. I didn't stutter Johnny; at least someone looks at me like they give a damn, not like they spent the night in my room and disappeared before I woke up. But I should be used to that by now, right? You're good at that, aren't you?"

Over in the corner, Reed and Ben both looked up at the two. Not another fight. Johnny stared down at her, mouth drawn into a tight line while Kasey's eyes shone bright; she wasn't done yet.

"And I should be used to you ignoring me after something like that happens. But what I'm not used to is you asking me for dating advice. You asked me what it would take to get Raye to like you! What's wrong with you? Are you that stupid?"

"No Kasey, I'm not. I asked your opinion because I value it."

"That's about all you do value from me, huh? You can lead me along, stay in my room and then ask me for dating advice. That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard, but then again, it is about you."

"Kasey I swear, I didn't mean to leave." Kasey pushed herself out of her chair and stood in front of him, toe to toe, face to face.

"Oh that's right! It's just a knee jerk reaction. Sleep with a girl and then take off at sun-up. I get it. I'm just another notch, right? Again, that's all I am."

"You're not a notch! Damn it Kasey, what do I have to do to get you to believe that?" Johnny shouted at her.

"Umh…stop messing around with me and then asking me how to get into Raye's obscenely heavily locked pants. That's a start!" Kasey shouted back. She didn't care that Ben and Reed were sitting right there or that there was a chance that the guards outside could hear what she was saying. She didn't care.

"Fine! Then I'll stop bothering you and just leave you the hell alone! That's what you want anyways, isn't it?"

"Yes!" _No!_

"Then ya got it, sweetheart!" Johnny snapped, as he folded his arms over his chest. "Happy now?"

"You have no idea how happy I am to have you out of my life completely." She bit out and Johnny's face fell a little. "This is the happiest day of my life."

The two of them stood there, staring each other down. Fire and Water. Trying to put out the other first. On the other side of the room, Ben and Reed just stood there. The tension that filled the room was so thick they could barely breathe. Since day one, Sue had been telling them that this day would come, the day Kasey and Johnny were literally at each others throat and there was nothing no one could do to stop it. It couldn't be stopped.

"Kasey?" Ben asked softly, taking a step toward her. "Kase, ya okay?"

"I'm fine Ben. More than fine." She said, glaring at Johnny. Johnny said nothing, just took a step back and dropped into an empty chair on the opposite side of the room. It was in that moment, with Ben standing at Kasey's side as she glared ice daggers into Johnny's back and as Johnny stared at the floor hard enough to make it melt, that Sue decided to burst through the door. It must've been changing of the guards, seeing as she banged the door open and pushed her way inside.

"Sue! How'd it go with the Surfer?" Reed asked, as if nothing had happened. Sue knew better, but didn't ask about it.

"It talked to him. He told me everything…" And then Sue told them everything the Surfer had told her. She told them about what she saw in the Surfer's hologram like memories first. And then about Galactus, all the planets it had destroyed and all the lives lost. "It'll be here in a few hours. He said the board is drawing it here." She said, ending her little 'speech' with a shaky sigh. Kasey's stomach rolled, she felt like she was going to be sick.

"We have to get that board and lead it away from here." Reed said. "Before it's too late."

"You think the General will go for that?" Johnny asked and Kasey noted the hurt in his voice. Good. Welcome to the club.

"He doesn't have much of a choice." Reed answered. Kasey looked around the room. Before even getting to talk to the General, the first step was to get to him.

"Okay, quick question. Outside of me dropping down into a puddle and Sue turning invisible again, how the hell are we going to get out of here unnoticed and get to the General, unnoticed?" Kasey asked. And then silence fell over the Five. No one had any clue how they were going to get out. Once again, no one had thought anything through. Lovely. Before anyone could come up with a decent idea, an explosion rocked the floor.

"What was that?" Sue asked, looking at everyone making sure they were all right.

"I have no idea, but I think it's time we left." Kasey said, making her way toward the door. Behind her, everyone agreed and she yanked it open. Outside, the base was in chaos. Soldiers ran off in different directions, barking orders at each other and trying to regain some kind of order. Following the guards that had been outside the room they were held in, the Five ran down several long hallways until they came to the containment facility that had been holding the Surfer's board. Peering into the room, Kasey cursed under her breath.

"It's gone and I think I know who took it." Reed said, coming up alongside her.

"Who?" Sue asked as she trapped a large computer into a force field to keep it from burning anymore.

"Victor." Reed said.

"It has to be. We haven't seen hide or hair of that jackass since the forest. We knew we couldn't trust him. Damn it!" Kasey hissed. The smell of smoke hit her nose and Kasey's face twitched. She hated that smell. All around them, the lab that had held the board was ruined. Ben was moving away burning pieces of rubble, mostly ceiling tiles and bigger broken pieces. Johnny was taking care of some of the fires, drawing the flames into him and Sue kept trying to save equipment. Stepping over broken glass and ceiling, Kasey drew a large current of water into her palms and blasted one of the larger fires.

"We need to get the board back." Reed said a minute later.

"We need the Surfer. He's the only one who knows it powers." Sue stated.

"I agree with Sue." Kasey added. Really, she wanted to see what had happened to him. How the military had treated him and what they had done to him. She wanted to make sure he was all right.

"You two are nuts!" Ben yelped, looking out the huge gaping hole where Victor had blasted through the wall. Outside, winds hollowed and the snow sprayed down onto the ground. "Even if we get him, how are we going to catch up with Victor?"

"Leave that to me." Reed mumbled, pulling out his PDA.

"What are you doing?" Sue asked, raising an eye brow.

"Just wait and see." Next to him, Kasey sighed and reached out for Sue.

"Let's go get the Surfer." Nodding, Sue led the way, while the others followed close behind. It took a few minutes to get through the maze of hallways and past unorganized soldiers, but Sue finally got them to the cell the Surfer was being held in. Kasey jumped a head of her when they got to the locked doors and glanced down at the electronic keypad. She had two options, push all the buttons until she got the right combination or do it her way. Her way was always more fun and she had been aching to try out this new trick she had learned. It took a second for her hand to ice over, but when it was done, her fist was a thick chunk of clear blue ice. Driving it down onto the keypad, it shattered and sparks flew up. Next to her, the door hissed and unlocked itself.

"Whoa…" Johnny breathed out, standing next to her.

"Watch out, next time it might be your face." She snarled, as Ben pushed open the doors and ran into the cell, to find the Surfer. He was being held up on what looked like a stretcher, tied down with several heavy restraints. Kasey frowned, how could they do that to him? How? His once silvery skin was now dull and tarnished, as if it needed to be polished. He looked horrible.

"_Beautiful One." _The voice in Kasey's head sounded weak and strained. God, she hated those people for doing that to him. He didn't deserve it.

"_Hey." _

"_Hey?"_ Kasey laughed and then wondered if he could hear her laugh. Maybe? She had heard him laugh once in her dream.

"_It's like hello, but shorter."_

"_Oh."_

"_Yeah. Now, let Ben help you and we can get you out of here." _Kasey said as Ben tried to be as gentle as he could as he undid the thick restraints. Slowly, Ben lifted the Surfer, placed him on the ground and then helped him out of the cell. Running away from the cell as fast as they could with Ben helping the Surfer, they rounded the corner and came face to face with Captain Raye. Kasey smirked. She needed a punching bag and here she was, all blonde and angry. Good. The smirk grew wider when she saw Raye pull out a gun, cocking it and trained it on them.

"What the hell is going on?!" Raye screamed. "Where is General Hager?"

"He's dead." Reed told her softly. Hurt crossed her face as she raised the gun higher, aiming it at them with shaking hands.

"And if we don't get him out of here, we'll be too." Ben said, nodding toward the Surfer.

"I can't let you do that." Raye said calmly. Kasey rolled her eyes and stepped away from the group. "Get back Winters, I'll shoot you, I swear."

"I dare you." Kasey hissed as she came closer, hands stretched out in front of her. Raye's finger hovered over the trigger, but she knew she'd never pull it. She wasn't that brave. Placing her hands on either side of Raye's, Kasey closed her eyes and focused. Not only did she freeze her own hands and Raye's, but the gun as well. Hearing the outer casing crack, Kasey knew the gun was useless now and pulled back, taking the broken hand gun with her. "Knew you wouldn't shoot me."

"Kasey! Now!" Reed yelled. "We need to get to the roof, all of us!" Nodding, Kasey dropped the gun at Raye's feet, gave her a tinkling wave before running to catch up with Reed and the others. Raye growled low in her throat as Kasey disappeared into nothing but a blur of dark hair and navy blue. She hated her. Really hated her.

Up on the roof, coming out of the roof access only stairwell, Kasey saw what the others were all staring at. Perched at the edge of the roof sat what looked like a jet, silver jet with what could be small five separate compartments, most likely able to fly on their own and a '5' at the nose. Was that what Reed had been hiding in the lab? It looked big enough to be.

"Dude!" Kasey said under her breath.

"Holy Crap." Ben muttered.

"Reed…this….this is so cool!" Johnny said, letting out a whoop as he checked the plane over. Sue rolled her eyes at her brother and looked over to Kasey, to see if she was doing the same thing. Instead, she stood there with her arms crossed and brows drawn into a deep 'V'. What had she missed?

"Ben get in. Sue, you and I will help the Surfer. Johnny, Kasey, fly behind us!" Reed said, giving out orders like the leader he was. Kasey nodded, but of course, Johnny protested; of course he wanted to fly it. And so did Ben.

"_You can fly Beautiful One?" _The smooth, tired voice in her head drowned Johnny and Ben out and Kasey gave him a slight smile.

"_Yeah, if I try hard enough."_

"_That is amazing, Beautiful One." _Kasey blushed. No one ever thought that her being able to fly was amazing, once Johnny figured out how to do it, it wasn't that big of a deal anymore.

"_Thank you. Please, stop calling me that. It's Kasey." _

"_Kasey?" _It sounded as if he was testing her name on his tongue. _"Kasey."_

"_Yeah, Kasey." _

"Shut up and move it!" Reed's outburst broke the link between the two of them and caused Kasey to jump. "Ben, get in. Johnny, shut up and fly behind. Kasey you too. Now!"

"Right!" Johnny said and Kasey nodded. Next to her, Kasey felt the air heat up. As usual, Johnny was engulfed in great, orange leaping flames. Copying him, she felt the cold water course through her veins, across her skin, up her spine and down her legs. Watching as Johnny jumped off the roof and up into the air, Kasey looked over to Sue and nodded.

"_Be careful…Kasey."_

"_I'm always careful…umh…."_

"_Norrin." _

"_Norrin? I like it." _Kasey looked back one last time before jumping up into the sky and streaking after Johnny. Behind the two of them, the Jet followed and took off before the soldiers who had been following them burst through the roof door.


End file.
